The ill Humored

Living through the last ten years or so, looking around at what’s happened and is still happening politically and economically, no large lessons come to mind, and certainly no solid conclusions. Just one thing pops out. American history makes a lot more sense now. The tone and substance of history textbook writing about the Depression makes a lot more sense after you’ve lived through a similar, inexplicable twist of economic fate. Those textbooks never focused on the causes because… they didn’t KNOW the causes, just like we can’t exactly tell what’s happened to our economy now, and we don’t know what’s coming next. Better to focus on understandable images, breadlines, dustbowls. Textbook descriptions of William Randolph Hearst’s “yellow journalism” getting us into the Spanish-American war around 1900 ring a lot truer today. Those books were trying to say something about corruption and the perversion of journalistic standards, without actually saying the core truth about the opinion-forming power of the media, even newspapers. And so on, and so on, through parallel after parallel. Just a little disgusting that these lessons never penetrate.

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Today was a wonderful and eventful day! My baby girl Alyvia slept in and cuddled with me until 10:00 a.m.! When we finally got out lazy butts out of bed, I cleaned up the house while Alyvia happily played in her exer-saucer. She loves to play in that thing and it keeps her entertained while I do other things like laundry that I can’t seem to find the time during the week to accomplish. I lost my dog Taylah but soon found her running through the neighborhood! She is such a crazy dog. I think she chases cats all around while I’m calling out her name from the front door. Then Alyvia had a record breaking diaper blowout which required a rinse in the shower, a bath, and a load of laundry! All in all, I’m so thankful that instead of working, I got to spend the day with my amazing, silly, crazy family!

My past week was just like almost all of my weeks. I was not on vacation, nor did I have any company. I spent all day Monday through Thursday at home with three small children. On Friday, my husband was home, as he was on the weekend days. Each weekday morning, I got up and nursed the baby. Then, I prepared breakfast for two small girls. At some point, I changed diapers so they would not leak. Each day, I tried to teach my children some reading or math skills. For the baby, I told him where his head, hands, arms, legs and feet are, and I sung the alphabet and numbers. For the two-year old, I held up flash cards I made with words on them, and she read the words. For the four-year old, I wrote down simple addition equations, and she told me the answers. Sometimes we identified states in the map of the United States, and countries in a world map. Some days, we walked in the yard and identified plants.

Pasta with alfredo sauce is a staple of Italian cuisine that has been enhanced in a variety of ways over time. Many have added chicken and additional spices, and more recently we have started looking to seafood as a nice complement to the dish. By far the best seafood alfredo one can eat is a batch made with fresh seafood. My personal preference is a combination of fresh shrimp, fresh sea scallops, and canned octopus. My girlfriend and I make this dish about once a month, and we start by buying our favorite pre-made four cheese alfredo sauce from a manufacturer called Classico. We then make a trip to Whole Foods Market and purchase a half pound each of fresh shrimp and fresh sea scallops. Lastly, we head down the canned foods aisle and grab two tins of canned octopus. At home, we de-vein the shrimp after a thorough rinsing and then we combine all of the elements in a large pan and lightly heat for a fair amount of time. We then add some garlic salt and pepper and the meal is ready!

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Urine, semen, blood, UTI’s and all that good stuff! I have already seen a cystoscopy, vasectomy, and cyst excision. It’s crazy how they have patients over booked and tells them all they have some sort of cancer. I felt so bad I couldn’t even work down that triage hall today. So, I kept busy in the first hall calling patients in to take their vitals, testing their urine, and placing them in the exam rooms for the doctor to see them. I enjoy interning because I can learn and become more knowledgeable about the medical field, but in a way a lot of people there are so cold hearted to the fact that those poor patients are still ill and need comfort. They make it seem like it’s nothing but in reality it’s life changing for these people, and I am proud to say I come to work everyday in hopes to make my patients happy and let them know someone cares enough about them.

For fun, riding my motorcycle is definitely what I look forward to doing. A few of my friends have bikes so we’ll spend a few hours enjoying the scenery out of town or just cruising around downtown. I also find it fun to go to the movies, especially when the weather is cold or rainy. I also love taking my two dogs to the local dog park and watching them play with the other dogs. We don’t have a fenced in yard so it’s nice to watch them run around, uninhibited and safe. Plus, it gives me time to sit back in a camping chair and catch up on a book I’d been meaning to read or get some homework done (not that the latter is fun for me.)

One thing I have learned as a first time mother is that it is important to find balance in life. If I give in to every wish my child has she may be happy but chances are I will be giving up a lot and will be unhappy. If I focus on either my husband or child too much the other one will become hurt or upset. Life is about having balance. In every period of our lives we must balance different aspects of ourselves. It may be balancing work and family or education and social life. The sooner we can recognize that our lives are out of balance the sooner we can find the right balance.

I am not an Arizona native. I have lived here for only 3 years but I have learned a little bit about the state during this time. I know that Arizona became a state on February 14, 1912. In school we celebrate Arizona statehood along with Valentine’s Day! Arizona is known for its C’s: climate, copper, cattle, citrus, cotton. These are all represented on the state seal. This is also called the Grand Canyon State and that is of course a big tourist attraction. Arizona also has rich culture influenced by the Native Americans and Mexican culture as well as others that call Arizona home.