Volunteering & Volunteer Students

It's hot and muggy in here because the library uses swamp coolers. Apparently our carbon footprint is more important than either our comfort or the preservation of the materials in the library. I wonder if the books in the stacks are getting mildewed, or if it's only me.

I'm (surprise!) still anxious about this job, but I am starting to think more realistically about it. I should just apply for a home care position where I can make my own hours. I can at least talk to HR about it. I hate the idea of home care, but I need to be working, and I need health care experience on my resume even if it's not hospital work. Actually, I need to get back into school because I have too much time to focus on the minutia.

I spent both weekend nights at the hospital and it was like a vacation. I love it there. I still feel a little awkward sometimes but I think it's because I'm a volunteer, and not everyone knows what I'm supposed to be doing. If I had more defined duties I would really be part of a team and everything would be okay. I feel more comfortable there than anywhere else.

The smell of Purel and latex centers me.

Even though there is this one tech that smiles whenever I enter the room but then the smile turns into a little laugh as if something is so amusing about me he can't contain himself. I think do the same thing myself sometimes, and I usually don't mean anything by it, but I am going to try not to anymore because it really kind of sucks to be on the other side of it.

It is possible that Saturday he was amused by my shoes, which are these MBTs that my aunt bought for me when I started nursing nursing school.

My friend Agata asked me if the had wheels inside the sole. They are pretty weird looking, but I have started wearing them more because they really keep the pressure off my lower back. I didn't wear them on Sunday night, and my hip is so sore today I can hardly walk.

Of course the smile/snicker is still better than the look I get when I say hi to this guy last night. I didn't know who he was, just some guy in scrubs who floats in and out of the ED every once and a while. He wears real nerdy looking black-framed glasses, but his shaved head, big, bushy goatee and tribal tattoos let everyone know that the nerdy glasses are ironic.

Anyway, he walks by, and I say hi. He gives me the look. It was a quintessential hipster look. Without a glimmer of emotion crossing his face, it is blatantly obvious he is both aghast and disgusted that I had spoken to him. He exhales, and some sort of noise comes out that may have been a response, but then he is gone, spinning his little oxygen mask as he disappears.

I turn to Agata: "He doesn't like me." I try to pout but I am too amused.

She shook her head. "That is because he is Respiratory Therapist." she says knowingly, in her strong Polish accent. Ah, that explains it.