Confluence

con·flu·ence
Pronunciation: 'kän-"flü-&n(t)s
Function: noun
1 : a coming or flowing together, meeting, or gathering at one point
2 a : the flowing together of two or more streams b : the place of meeting of two streams c : the combined stream formed by conjunction

A confluence of events have overtaken me and several of those I love. I can not blog on these events; they do not belong to me. The events converge, washing over my body and soul, carrying me with them like the joining of powerful rivers. I struggle to stay afloat and offer a helping hand. The others are in the river, far deeper than I am, their struggle more desperate; they need my help. Who do I reach out to first? How do we get through? Where has my strength gone? Will I drown? I feel lost. I am ashamed that the thought "why me?" keeps surfacing. Why not me? Or a much better question: "Why them?"

And They're Off!!

The flag has come down on the beginning of a new semester...

So much has happened recently! I am excited to be back at school. Let's see... Sunday I had my 42d Birthday. I went out dancing the night before and had a fabulous time... This year I did not feel like blogging about it. Not in a bad way. It was great; I am in a good place in my life, I just did not feel like writing on it. Maybe later.

The semester began on Monday. It's going to be a busy semester. Today we met with our clinical instructor for our Peds rotation. She seems great; very enthusiastic.

I am taking a graduate course on nursing theory in the evening. There are several nurses in the BS completion and the nurse practitioner program in the group. They come from extremely diverse backgrounds and some have been nursing for 20+ years! I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with these experienced nurses and learn from them.

Also, I have convinced three of the faculty to do pieces for my "Why Nursing" series of vblogs. I look forward to being able to start offering them up in the next couple of weeks.

If there are any nursing students or nurses out there who are in the NYC area who would like to participate in this series, I would love to film you. Email me or post a comment.

Vlogging for Peace

Click to play

This post is my response to Pete Rahon's call to action for the Million Minutes Vlog4Peace. My altar had been somewhat neglected so I decided to clean and rededicate it and use footage from this activity for the basis of my one minute vlog.

C'mon vlogger people, if it can be done for Carp Caviar, it can certainly be done for peace!

What better subject?

Why Nurse? My take.

Click Here to Play

A number of folks have been coming here with the question "Why Become a Nurse" or Why Choose Nursing". Here is my take. I hope to get some other opinions for you over the next few months. Stay tuned.

A Day to Remember the Dream

"Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time, the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love."

-Martin Luther King Jr., December 11, 1964

Click for more Martin Luther King, Jr. quotes

"I Have A Dream" speech

Brooklyn Bird

Ok, here it is, as promised, the Leeloo video.

WARNING: This is a pet video. It contains gratuitous cutsey footage of an adorable bird. If this kind of thing makes you barf, DO NOT WATCH IT! There, pet video haters, (you know who you are) you have been adequately forewarned.

Click to watch

Surf'n Bird
The Tube City!: Best of the Trashmen
The Trashmen
BUY ME

Thank You, Mediblogopathy!

I won! I won! Wow, I am excited. "Becoming a Nurse" has won "Nurse Blog for the Month" over at the wonderful Mediblogopathy! I am so honored. Thanks! Mediblogopathy hosts the definitive list of nurse blogs so if you are looking for more blogs to read - head on over there. I also had some stiff competition this month - I recommend all the blogs in the running as worthy reads - please check them out and vote next month!

Dancing Shoes

Last night a good friend took me out dancing at Roxy in Manhattan. I had an amazing time... but the morning after - oh boy.

Great Cookbook

Hi. I was just looking through my vast cookbook colletion and I found this book I kind of forgot about. This book was my lifeline when I was caring for my uncle Jerry. It's called "Laurel's Kitchen Caring: whole-food recipes for everyday home care giving". Here is a quote:

"In the past several years, because of sad events, I have been priviledged to watch some fine caregivers in action. This little book hopes to carry their spirit to people who have these precious opportunities, and want to give their best. During this time my own behind-the-lines contribution has been on the Kitchen Patrol, and so here you have recipes, some of my own, and some from friends, ranging from comfort dishes for childhood snuffles and grumps, to real-food sustinence for people who are so ill they find it hard to eat at all."

Another:

"There's some old, deep wisdom in the belief that when you, with a loving heart, prepare and give a delectable sweet treat, you may for a short time ease the bittrness of someone's sickness, or even, their sadness."

A great book, loaded with stories about caregiving among the recipes. An excellent book to recommend to the caregivers you know.

Broken links - fixed

Hey I found a bunch of broken links in my old videos. They should be fixed now if anyone wants to look at the old stuff - I think the snail is sorta cool.

Park Slope Dawn, 6:30 AM

Shot this little neighborhood tour this morning when I arrived at my gym to find it closed. It's a little dark and (Dramamine alert) shaky. Sorry, clearly my walking and shooting technique needs a little work... I hope you like it anyway!

Happy New Year!!

Wishing you all the most marvelous, incredible, happy year ever!

My lord, have I been lazy since school let out. I had all these great plans for this break. Fun books to read, see my friends who I have been neglecting, call people, clean my house, go to the gym more, actually get some food in the house and (gasp) cook, more and better vblogs, on and on.

Well... I have been watching a lot of vblogs. Have done a fair amount of surfing. Been playing with my xmas toys.... my new video ipod, 400 gig of disk for my Mac (Yes!!!) and best but scariest of all - Final Cut Studio (Holy shit, what have I got myself into...) Got my hair trimmed. Played with Leeloo a lot. Went out to eat a few times... In short - goofed off a whole bunch!

So anyway, there is only 23 more days till the whip comes down and school starts up again.. Time to hop to it, get busy and all of that.

Oh, and 22 days till I turn 42... oh dear. Well, at least 42 is the answer. Or so they say.