Turn the crank and hang on;

My last day was today, and it ended at noon. At that point, MH was talking with CA about the research protocol we have left, so I headed out to turn in my parking sticker without bothering them. This was after she dragged me down to the old creepy storage unit and was unbelievably rude to me while we found the keys to the old swivel cabinets - which for the record, I found by picking up the keys that said "storage".

Half a goddamn hour later, MH calls my cell phone ranting about how horrible it was that I'd left without saying goodbye - not for leaving without finishing the official business I needed to do on their end, for not saying goodbye - and how I'd better get back once I was finished because she was gonna box my ears for that.

Naturally, I turned in my badge, blocked her number from my phone, sent NS a long text that was basically "if you don't come back from maternity leave soon (which I already know you want to do bc your kids are driving you nuts), you're gonna have trouble", and drove straight home. Fuck that noise.

Couple of hours later, NS called me and said she was glad I'd gotten out of there, and that MM and the like didn't want her to help me get the job in Portland, but she wasn't going to deny me the opportunity. She also said she's well aware if she doesn't come back soon, she's not going to have any employees left. Evidently if she resigns, there's going to be a fight, because MM will want to appoint MH as the new supervisor, but she doesn't have a BSN, while CA does.

I'm incredibly thankful for NS, because she got me into this job, and she got me out of it, and I can never really repay her for that.

As for the rest of it? Après moi, le déluge.

My last day of work is tomorrow. I have an infusion today that should be straightforward.

I have tickets to that dumb Channing Tatum movie on Friday, because I figure by Friday night, I'll need something to chill me out. I got them online so I can return them if I need to.

I can't think of much else to say.

Don't even fuckin' ask about today.

This weekend was nice, I found a lovely place south of Downtown (and got it for 200 a month cheaper because I applied so early), and for a moment I missed my family, wondered if I really needed to move across the country now that the supreme court had mandated marriage equality in all 50 states.

And then I came in to work today.

THE RED DEATH IS FINALLY OUTSIDE OUR DOOR, and just like I figured it showed up in time to wreck my weekend. Fingers crossed we get the worst of it over before I have to get on a plane, although tbh the flight isn't long enough for me to have any serious worries, now that the apparatus is a thing.

Just like I was hoping they would, they're having a simulcast event the Thursday before Paper Towns comes out. It's called Night on the Towns, which is a much better phrase than Night Before Our Stars, but they both work. There weren't any tickets on sale in Portland this morning, so I bought one up by Seattle in a fit of desperation, but thanks to the wonders of Fandango, I managed to swap it for a ticket in Portland about an hour ago. I'm really looking forward to it, because the poster looks fantastic. I remember picking my sister up from the theater after the Night Before our Stars, and she was a mess. Then again, Linda liked TFIOS way better than Paper Towns, so there's that.

Marina and the Diamonds is also going on the tour of the US I always wanted her to, albeit in October, and Linda already has her tickets. I'm getting mine tomorrow for the Portland show as soon as they go on sale.

Work continues to escalate in its level of bonkers (the phrase "roller coaster that only goes up" comes to mind). LVN wrote an email to MM about the seven billion things that have been pushed onto her and how she can't possibly handle them all. DT's about to go to MM about the power trip MH has been on, and to be honest if I were the kind of person who wasn't terrified of authority figures, I would have already done so. Ridiculous.

I have everything I'll need for Friday, though I might need to toss the body spray in favor of my roll-on perfume. It's going to be even more of an ordeal than previously thought to get from the airport to the hotel on Friday, though. I just realized that 15 minutes to midnight in Portland is nearly 2 AM in Dallas. Maybe it's best that my first appointment Saturday is at noon.

I've gotten the hang of smoothies (mostly), and they're proving to be a good breakfast thing. I had two unsuccessful and one kind of successful attempt at nutripaste, but I'm still going back to the store today in search of pudding mix - the stuff I made last night had way too much banana, and making it with soda is just asking for nausea, since I got unflavored casein.

We had a power blink at work today. Luckily, my patient had already left.

There was no lactose yesterday, and yet the GI upset continues. WHY.

I've been wishing for the Red Death to come down this week (it was supposed to hit yesterday), but it's probably waiting until I'm travelling, like it always does.

I've been feeling these strange, shaky sort of lightheaded moments since yesterday. When I read cards again, when I blended up bananas and pineapple and it tasted wonderful, and when I watched Ashley Mardell and understood what she meant. It's like there are tiny earthquakes happening inside my head.

Everything that has happened in my digestive system today has been soul-crushingly regretful. I need to fix this, and soon.

I was running two patients this morning, and I managed to wear myself out by 9:30. Yeesh.

I'm reviewing the ACRP certification materials I got from Steve now that my patient is gone and Mary's got the other one. Figure it'll come up when I get to Providence.

Hank said something on tumblr today about how astrology/naturopathy/etc can have effects similar to talk therapy, because they give people an opportunity to think about their life and circumstances in a context outside of their own headspace (or something like that), and it got me thinking about how I sort of crafted my own kind of magic when I was younger. I remember distinctly swallowing round, shimmering glass beads in an effort to become beautiful from the inside out. Nothing bad happened, thank god, but I gave up my mysticism in favor of rationality, unable to understand why the idea of cards and star charts still appealed to me until it was spelled out so clearly.

I think it might be time to get myself a new deck.

EDIT TO ADD: I found Shadowscapes (aka the deck I loved and then returned to the store in a fit of shame and practicality) on Amazon, AND there's an app that uses the same deck, for when I need a reading done quickly. Much better coping mechanism than stress eating.

So, Renee went and cancelled the museum trip, so I'm gonna take her the machine tomorrow afternoon. She sent me her cell number (finally) so I can let her know when I get there.

I got off work early today and proceeded to crash so hard, I actually went to Garden Ridge. And spent money there. I also got some photos, because they don't have Garden Ridge up in Portland.

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Afterwards, I was still really low, and I wound up at LJS, had a conversation with the manager while I waited for my food to cook, ate half of it in the Plano H Mart parking lot, and then went inside to check it out.

I had no idea what I was missing. Plano H Mart makes Carrollton H Mart look like a matchbox. It's huge, it's beautiful, and I have to see it again before I leave. The grocery section looks like H Mart crossed with Central Market, the home goods section is enormous, and their Tous Les Jours was like walking straight into Antique Bakery. The boy behind the counter was gorgeous, so of course it nearly hurt to stand there, given the state I was in.

I genuinely can't tell if I'm rapid cycling or if work just wore me out this week, but either way I feel disgusting. I need to fucking sleep.

I've gotten into contact with a couple more apartment complexes, and it's becoming abundantly clear that parking in Portland is ridiculously expensive. One of the buildings I'll be looking at next week is so new, I'm going to do a hard hat tour. They don't finish the building until July 2nd! O_O There's another one in the Northwest district that's made of tiny, but furnished, units. I think I might like that one quite a bit, if I can get a handle on how parking works. Either way, I've got three appointments Saturday the 27th, and then a list of backups for Sunday if none of them work out.

And now, I seriously need to clean the closet out.

I'm here until 9 with a late patient, even though I'm not on call this week. NS had her daughter this morning and cannot come back to work until cleared by her physician, which likely will be long after I'm gone. CA is on vacation until the day I come back from Portland, which means MH is in charge and I'm here until 9:30.

You can bet I'll be taking the difference out of Friday.

LVN introduced me to OfferUp, which has greatly assisted me in getting my furniture out of the house. I'm still going to relist on craigslist, but not until I get home, because apparently craigslist hates us and blocked our IP, instead of the other way around. At something like 2 this afternoon. What.

I get a lot more messages on offerup than I did on CL, which is nice, but so far a lot of them have been in spanish, which I do not speak. I checked, and my name on there is my first name and last initial, and also my email address (which contains my spanish last name) is not listed. Oy.

I did have a guy offer to trade me his 164-gig HD Asus notebook for my TV, though. What even.

God, I need to get out of here.

Just got this email from Middle Manager:



Figured that would be the case. Doesn't sound too bad.



Fucking hell. We're exempt employees. There is no reason to pull this bullshit other than to be deliberately micromanaging.

I am so glad I put my notice in last week before NS left. I have a countdown widget on my phone ticking down to the 2nd of July. Thankfully, we're off the 3rd.

In other news, NS got an email from the background check place asking for her to answer reference questions, and I'm not even making this up, she sent them to me and told me to answer them myself and then give them back to her. I used one of my alternate email addresses because this sounds horrendously unethical to me, but what the fuck ever, if it gets me through the credentialing process.

I also found out that our admin got fired because she went to the head doctor in charge and ranted about the way Middle Manager ran things (what LVN told me was something along the lines of, "how is she gonna run a clinic if she's never there?"). I honestly didn't see that coming, but I'm not completely surprised now that it's happened. Everyone here has a Problem, and hers was her temper. Actually, lemme just list this out, past and present, while I'm still here to witness it.

Me: Lazy and disloyal
Nursing Supervisor: Doormat with no follow-through
Mother Hen: Needlessly confrontational
Crazy Alpha: Paranoid and passive-aggressive
Crazy Beta: Paranoid and regular aggressive
Crazy Omega: Dependent af
LVN: Two-faced gossip
Diet Tech: Pessimist
Old Admin: Severe anxiety
New Admin: Attitude problem
Middle Manager: Fake as a Sam Moon handbag