got tattoos on the brain, and on my ass

This photo makes me sad, I think I hate Calgary. damn, I should be studying not looking at photos - coogee's just a hop, skip and a bus ride from where I used to live.

Is it me or is the actor who plays the porn star with the extra large appendage on showcase's Queer as Folk also flogging Big Macs during prime time?

No this is not a new tattoo, it is the letterhead from The Alberta College of Paramedics. They were in Calgary testing 220 EMR students this weekend. Testing consists of a multiple choice exam and an emergency scenario.

I arrived at 9:30 am on Saturday for the scenario testing and was promptly shown to a waiting room. We were instructed not to talk to one another and not to leave our room. 20 of us sat on kindergarten-sized, hard plastic chairs until 1:30pm, all the while eyeing the increasingly agitated smokers amongst our group. A particularly anxious smoker punched the blackboard but declined the smoke break incase his name was called while he was gone.

My scenario was "unconscious man in restaurant". It turns out he was laughing a little too hard, choked on his steak and it became lodged in his throat. I pictured an older, jowly man in a brown, too tight, business suit, thumping the table, clutching his throat and falling to the ground (like on TV, maybe even wearing a ten gallon cowboy hat) - what I had was a rubber mannequin wearing a grey tracksuit with two small holes in the front. After the scenario I was escourted past a table stacked with Alberta College of Paramedic logoed coffee mugs, golf shirts and windbreakers. I signed out, was told to come back tomorrow to write my test and afterwards would find out if I passed my scenario. If unsuccessful in the scenario I would retest immediately after the exam.

I wrote my exam, found out I passed my scenario, and watched as the table stacked with logoed goods was swarmed by happy exam finishers. Beware, the flood of pinstriped dark blue and mustard golf shirts is sure to come. Where are people going to wear this crap? Like everyone else, I am happy this weekend is over and hope my next test in October is not as grueling.

I just agreed to sell my ford falcon. damn, what's next, one of the pets?

weird coincidence today: I now know the blue blur's name is Dave and that he bought a new blue outfit this year.

one more robichaud and hyde-clarke in alberta for the next two days

cranberries nailed to ikea floor sample (much better than the idea I had when I found the card "I've got my eye on you")
happy valentine's day gerg

ok, I'm a little preoccupied with my pokes, bumps and punctures lately, but I thought unemployment was an opportunity for reflection?

aversion training: a bur in my tights doesn't make me walk faster. One hour and twenty-seven minutes of rubbing. How am I going to explain this to the massage therapist? (The same massage therapist who asks me "ugh, how did you get that scar on your back?" EVERY time he sees it - I tell him, "I fell down the stairs".)

IV gooooeeeeees here.

Not as bad as I thought, I even let my partner poke the other arm. Neither of us successfully inserted the catheter though.

    

evening of yak. gerg and Lichen have a good system going. gerg jumps out of bed at the sound of heaving, Lichen runs downstairs and yaks on the backdoor mat.

for no one in particular, adopt a greyhound. ahem, I see some of them are good with cats.

crap. neighbours boxed in my car. People who said they would come to see the falcon today (3), didn't. Stood up for dinner.

good. variety pack of cold and sinus medication goes great with the last of my italian coffee. only 4 chapters left in my medical terminology workbook. just ignored ringing phone, maybe I was not stood up for dinner after all.

I am selling my '64 ford falcon. 5 people have called so far, all men. I don't really want to sell it but it's rotting in the backyard and it seems such a shame to just let it sit there. Haven't started it since the summer but all it took to start it last night was a boost from a portable battery, what a gem.