Friday, February 09, 2007

I'm Dreaming Of A White Change Of Shift

(Why the weird post title, you ask? Ah, 'tis but another concoction of my brilliantly witty mind. You see, this post is both about the nursing blog carnival Change Of Shift as well as about the fact that it snowed yesterday. Hahaha geddit geddit seewhatIdidthere? --Editor)

Change of Shift is up over at my favourite nursing blog, Nurse Ratched's Place, which is also the only medblog I know of to have appeared in Blogger's Blogs Of Note. Mother Jones was kind enough to include one of my posts (yes, medic posts CAN appear in nursing blog carnivals. No, you do not have to be handsome enough to have every nurse in your hospital want to make out with you, but it helps. Cough. --Ed)

This edition of Change of Shift has a Valentine's Day theme, and Mama Jones wrote some very nice words about me:
The Angry Medic wrote this post about a nurse with a hard, tough exterior, and a heart of gold. He says that she likes him. Well of course she likes you, Angry Medic. You’re a good guy. That’s why those nurses you write about on your blog want to drag you into the nearest closet just like you see on Grey’s Anatomy. You better watch out. One of those nurses that you are so fond of may have special plans for you on Valentine’s Day.
No, that is NOT me blushing. I, um, just have some red stuff on my face. Ketchup from lunch or something. I do not blush! I am a very manly very hot medic. Cough.

Yesterday I undertook an interesting experiment in human psychology. Cambridge is a funny place. Everyone's under so much stress to perform; medical students with glasses thicker than A-Level Statistics textbooks, lecturers who sacrifice time, hairlines and contact with sunlight to stick in their labs waiting for a breakthrough, and porters who double up as riot police every night as the college bar empties. So sometimes all it takes to drive people over the edge is a small relatively mundane occurrence.

Like a little bit of snow.

King's College Great Gate

Now I know places where it snows so much that it's nothing to laugh about *ducks to avoid Eskimo whaling spear* but it NEVER snows in Cambridge, so when it does, things go a little cuckoo. The widescreen madness started at about 8.30am at the Great Gate of Trinity College, where amidst desperate medics on bicycles skidding in the streets and crashing into restaurants, a bunch of mathematicians suddenly lost their inhibitions (hey, normal people lose it when they get drunk, mathmos lose it when it snows. Who knows what goes on in their heads? --Ed) and started a snowball fight. Out came one of the porters to see what all the ruckus was, and BAM went a snowball to his face.

He then went back into the Porters' Lodge, summoned the other porters, and following standard University procedure in dealing with snowball-throwing mathmos, started a snowball fight with them.

Trinity mathmos finally lose it. Spot the tourist desperately trying to get away.

I myself skipped lectures and spent the day doing the tourist thing, outsnapping even the hordes of Japanese tourists thronging King's Parade. Taking a cue from the Bohemian Road Nurse, I enclose some of the more interesting shots I took along my travels:

Tourists snapping away on King's College Chapel, right before a porter came and kicked them off the lawn.

A Jesus College student risking expulsion, beheading, hanging and any number of other archaic punishments in the University Constitution to build a snowman on Chapel Court lawns before the porters catch him.

Jesuan students risk the wrath of Trinity College porters to build a snowman on Trinity College lawns (because everyone knows Trinity snow is more "legendary" than Jesus snow.)

"This is the best damn snow in the South of England. I only step on the best snow, y'hear? And this is the best snow. It's Trump Snow. We should charge people to step on it."

30 comments:

Mother Jones RN said...

Hello Sweetie:

Yes, dear, we know that you are manly. Darn ketchup! Thank you for the link to Change of Shift.

Your Mama Jones:-)

zewt said...

just make sure you dont get syphilis... ok?

Phoenix said...

Ah, that snow is so pretty! Nursequack has never been out in the snow.

Anonymous said...

Bwahahahaha.....that snow man is funny.

I like your pics, they're entertaining. ;)

Besides, I'd like to request that you remove my blog from your links. I most probably won't be updating it (possibly abandoning it, and I have other plans) and I don't want an inactive link cluttering up your great blog.

Keep those pics coming! How about making a snowman in your likeness?

medstudentitis said...

Hah, such wimps. We've got like 2 feet right now and it was -31 today!
Nice snowman though...

Dan said...

argh. quit acting like its your first time seeing snow!

the only good snow is snow you can ski on.

the bloody snow made cycling a hassle as it was muddy and slushy, causing a big mess and the cold weather affected my pistol shooting because my fingers were numb. and the rifle smoke was actually bearable because my nose was stuck.

BaitiBadarudin said...

Never thot medic students have a sense of humor; guess I'm proven wrong!

Nathan said...

Nice. I come from a very snowy clime, but currently live in a place where the entire city goes just about as nuts with snow. Still, it's worth skipping lectures and just enjoying.

Argus Lou said...

"ducks to avoid Eskimo spear" -- I thought for 3 seconds it was a newspaper headline. Like, "What? Eskimoes are starting to spear ducks because they look like b--y s--ls in the snow?!"

I like the Donald in the snow. Reminded me of my tiny snow angel with an evil face, which melted away after a few days of sunshine (here in Switzerland).

Chrysalis said...

Hey, Medic, where are the snow angels? That's what I'd like to know.
;)
Where is Jason heading off to? I've really enjoyed the comments he's made on here. I never had the chance to check out his blog. I just know he's made me laugh more than a few times. Best to you Medic.

Bo... said...

You CRACK ME UP! Love the pictures--especially the snowman! It's a good thing you don't work here in Podunk because I'd be rolling on the floor laughing at your antics all the time....

Bo... said...

(And I did add "medic blog" to my posting about "Change of Shift"--sorry!)

Anonymous said...

singh. lan jiao chee bye. T.T.

Argus Lou said...

Medic, your Dan pal is so rudely Chinese, ayoh!

So, enjoying the sights of nurses changing out of their white shifts?
Why on earth do they do that in front of you? To tease you to death?

P.S. Are nurses still wearing deathly white instead of some nice pastel-coloured pantsuits or scrubs? Do they sport low necklines like in some TV doctor series ?!

Dan said...

haha... argus, it was a joke we had running for a day because we had to make some goddamn yeesang for 200 people :P

hell is malaysian food feast in cambridge.

Argus Lou said...

Hell, too bad I'm not in Cantbridge this time of year.

Poor chappies. Not fun cooking for more than 6 people, huh?

Ya, I curse in Chinese or Malay too if a Swiss motorcyclist shouts at me. No worries.

Anonymous said...

It looks very cold... like balls shrinking cold... burrrrrr.

zewt said...

yo medic... 'angel' is not very happy about you commenting about the 'dodgy meeting'.... haha!

The Angry Medic said...

Mama Jones: Aww shucks *more ketchup appears on face* heh. Thank YOU for the article in the first place! I really liked the layout of your CoS.

HospitalPhoenix: She HASN'T? Awww mate, you should let her out more often! HEr webbed feet are ideal for skiing.

(Btw, Donald Trump says he wouldn't mind taking NurseQuack out on a vacation somewhere snowy anytime. The Alps maybe?)

Jason: Aww man, why're you discontinuing your blog? As usual you're too modest...your writings are wayyy deeper than my drivel, okay. But I respect linking requests very seriously, so I'll take off the link.

Thanks for the pic love! Snowman in my likeness? Ooh, I would, but it'd prolly disrupt traffic due to the large number of females flocking to it :P

Medstudentitis: Hey, it's not like we WANTED to be lightweights in the snow arena you know. 2 feet?! Oh, you lucky lucky bums! When's the next plane over to your place? :)

The Angry Medic said...

QueenB: Medic students DON'T have a sense of humour (well, not the ones who do any work, anyway). I do because I don't study. I anticipate losing my sense of humour a few weeks before my exams and turning into a zombie.

If I die, put flowers on my grave every year kay? :(

Nathan: aHA! So it's NOT just me who goes nuts when it snows! It IS fun. And definitely worth skipping lectures for!

(The boxed ears you get from your supervisor, maybe not, but the lecture, yes...)

Chrysalis Angel: Whoops! Forgot your predilection for angels :P we DID make some. Watch this space!

And yeah, Jason has an excellent sense of humour. Can't wait til he starts up another blog. Thanks for the wishes...you have no idea how much I appreciate an angel watching over me :)

Bohemian: Aww, high praise coming from you. Thankies! And hey, you're not so unfunny yourself, you know. Bet you put more than a few of your patients in stitches eh? (Oh hohohohoho seewhatIdidthere?) :)

The Angry Medic said...

Adam: Hahahahaha! You Aussies sure have a way with words :)

(Yes, I know you're not reall Aussie, but you know what I mean.)

Dan: Don't drink and drive.

Argus Lou: Hahahaha forgive me friend Dan. He's not really Chinese, but we were having some fun with Hokkien earlier and this is an indication of Dan's extreme aptitude at learning language :)

Aww, you should have been in Cambridge. I personally woke up at 6am to grind vegetables for 200 people (some of whom were ungrateful bastards about it). And funnily enough, we DID have a snow angel with an evil face...

Dan said...

lim jiu mai hua chia. ai wah kum lan jiao mai?

Dan said...

dude, i'm half hokkien.

Anonymous said...

hhahaha I'm practicallly an Aussie... been drinking "Goon" the past couple of days now!

(P.S. doesn't "Goon" sound stinky?)

The Angry Medic said...

Dan: I know. And it's not doing you any favours. Stop trying to hit on me in Hokkien! I know a cute NatSci you could do that to instead.

Adam: Goon's a DRINK?!

I call people 'goon' all the time. It's such a great swear word, don'tcha think? "Stinky"?

Dan said...

i dont want a cute natsci. i want a cute medic. (female, not u)

Anonymous said...

T.T
Ba

Amazingly, these two words came up more than swearing words that day, when we had to make the food.

AND you skipped lecture to play in the snow, while asking me to get you notes, eh... Now I can't hit on the girls in snow...

Anonymous said...

yes ba. T.T...

The Angry Medic said...

Dan: What the...? A cute MEDIC? "My my, what roving eyes you have, grandma!"

EL: I didn't hit on any girls either. They were all in the lecture theatre, not in the snow, being the nerds they are. I gave you INCENTIVE to hit on them. You owe the continuation of your lineage to me! :)

Dan said...

there's this cute singaporean medic. i can't believe you've not seen her.