It's like, MY life! :-)

“And here’s a hit from ‘98” the radio DJ said as Green Day’s Time of Your Life started playing. I turned it up to sing along to, then realized that 1998 was TEN YEARS AGO! Holy Goodness.

Which is a nice segway into my new obsess—er, discovery. For some reason (the same reason I like to think caused me to miss shows like Saved by the Bell and the Wonder Years… gasp!) I never watched My So Called Life when it came out. I think I woulda been in the eighth grade, I totally watched shows like Party of Five, even Dawson’s and Felicity (quality show!) but sadly MSCL missed me. And I never did have MTV to catch up either. So when abc.com started playing past episodes, I started watching.

First, the show is fantastic!! Even now I can relate to it, and I think people of all maturity levels can. I have a huge appreciation for Angela’s character… as creator Winnie Holzman describes, the quiet girl at the back of English class who turns in everything on time and does everything right, who has so much more going on inside than she expresses. And I think that’s fun to see—her head is in the clouds almost as much as mine was (a trait I’m still trying to outgrow.) Jared Leto Rocks!! I love the fact Angela can laugh in Jordan Catalano--Jared Leto's--face when he asks her to have sex with him and then walk away. Speaking of Jordan Catalano—he totally reminds me of MY high school crush… but um, slower. (And I don't think I got past saying eight sentences to him in those four years. Some of which I still remember.) :-)

I’ve seen far too many 14 and 15 year old girls this month on the OB floors who didn’t make that decision to walk away, or the decision to use protection, and now have to take care of a baby instead of being a kid and going to school. I wonder if it’s because of shows depicting high school in less realistic ways—glamorous sex lives, expensive cars, tube tops, who knows. MSCL handled that topic—and more—awesomely, and honestly. I’d say we should make new episodes, but really… would it be the same now? MTV had it right-- just replay the old ones! Whatever happened to Juliana Hatfield?! Her music was incredible!

Thank you Meyling for supplying my addiction (Meyling: I UNDERSTAND!!! I UNDERSTAND!!) :-) Only now I’m feeling an insane amount of withdrawal! The series ends with the worst cliffhanger of all time, second only to… Wow I can’t think of any bad cliffhangers. Which is good because then I’d ruin another show for you. :-) It’s funny though I know exactly how I want it to end now, but 15 years ago I would have wanted it to end in the completely opposite way. Maybe this is WISDOM! Who knows, in 15 more years I’ll want there to be robots and exploding things. :-)

And did we really wear so much flannel back then?


“There are so many different ways to be connected to people. There are the people you feel this unspoken connection to, even though there’s not a real word for it. There's the people who you’ve known forever who know you in this way that other people can’t because they’ve seen you change. They’ve let you change” ~ Angela, My So Called Life

Ode to Spaces (and babies!)

This month will end in 12 days! I'm in the newborn nursery and don't get me wrong, I love babies... and love the fact I have no call this month. But the PAPERWORK! There's got to be a better way. We have to collect information from everywhere (three different sources not counting the babies themselves) and fill out these papers. It's quite repetitive. So much of my time is spent doing this, I'm starting to have bad handwriting! I thought I was immune, but alas. Residency takes what wasn't already sucked out of us in Med school. :-)

Strangly enough, being around newborns is triggering maternal urges I never knew I had. Lucky for the babies, they all have security devices which go off if they get too close to the elevators or if someone illegally takes off with one. I'm trying to become more responsible in caring for other life forms. Over Christmas and New Years, I took care of my neighbor's plants... and they survived! One day I will have my own plant... then I shall work upward from there. (and steal cute babies.)

More thoughts: I am getting to know the nurses on the floors better, and they rock! One of them, I'll call 'Mama G' (she's so wonderful!) was telling me about her husband... and how for the past 38 or so years she wakes up to "oh honey, you're so beautiful!" and hears "I'm such a lucky man for marrying such a kind and generous lady" on a fairly regular basis. She said at first she thought it strange and it took a while to get used to, but now she thinks it's great! He even notices her haircuts. :-) Mama G told this story much better, and she definitely raises the bar for the menfolk in this world: Men everywhere- take note! Verbalize!

I just got back from a friend's place-- her apartment complex had a pizza-movie night (Transformers!) and along with the group, there were 5 or6 toddlers there. They were from 3 different families... each maybe 2 or 3 years old, and I had as much fun watching them socialize as actually watching the movie. One little girl was trying to join a group of three kids--two boys and one girl--sitting on a couch in front of the TV. The boys were all about including her in their Transformers talk-- I think she was asking them in Spanish too. The girl however seemed a bit protective of her friend circle and just kept saying "NO! NO!"The boys didn't care, and one even moved over so the newcomer could sit next to him. The other girl however, came over and smacked her!! That girls' dad and mom ran over alarmed and pulled her away... then later she comes back and says "I'm sorry" to the girl she just hit. As if that weren't cute enough, the girl who got hit (who may or may not have understood the English) hugged her. It was like... real life hallmark!!!

Also, I need to fix my space bar. Here's how it looks like, I've trained my thumb to hit the little white rubber thing in the middle. Only it came off too! I put it back on, but it pops off. Poorspacebar! As youcansee, I also am missing a white plastic part on the right... I hope my vacuum cleaner didn't eat it up! Anyone have a spare spacebar (or glue?) lying around?