I'm a nurse, as you might remember from my previous post. Technically I've been a professional student my whole life, changing majors and wasting money. Hey, I'm not proud of the fact that it took me as long as it did to accomplish something that most people do by their early twenties.
I did get a degree several years ago in manufacturing engineering, and I worked in the aerospace field, which I loved. I love jets, and I love jet engines even more. When I was a little girl, we drove to Tennessee frequently - sometimes just for the weekend. We would drive past GE Aircraft Engines in Evondale, and I would just stare out the window and think to myself, "I want to work there when I grow up." I'm not sure why. My dad was a machinist at GM, and I loved the way he smelled when he came home from work. He died when I was ten, but I still remember the way he smelled like metal and cutting oil. So I entered this program to become a machinist, and took it just a bit further. There were 2 women in the entire class (about 75) and I was one of them. I loved it. I guess I felt like I was carrying the torch.
I've always been more comfortable working with men. Actually, I've always enjoyed mens company more than womens. Women are catty and gossipy. Don't get me wrong....I'm very much a woman and have a strong feminine side. Maybe I just like the attention from men. I was more of a daddy's girl than a mama's girl, and I really hated my dad for leaving me with my mom.
So I started working as a machinist, and quickly was pulled into Quality Control. This was cool because there were not many women in QC in the aerospace field. We made engine components for GEAE, and I was so proud - I actually inspected parts that would fly. I was layed off after about a year and a half because business had slowed down. I was totally bummed, and I realized then that I had entered a field with not much financial security.
I quickly got another job, again in QC, for another GEAE supplier. This time, they sent me to school to become a Quality Rep for GE - my parts bypassed any receiving inspection at GE and went directly to the assembly line. I was an unpaid employee of GEAE, and my dream was slowly coming true. Again, I worked for almost a year and a half until I was laid off due to lack of work.
Michael, the ex, suggested I go to nursing school so I wouldn't have to worry about getting laid off any more. I expressed concern that money would be tight, and we just couldn't survive on his paycheck alone. He said "think about the future," so I did. Unfortunately, during this time of transition for me, he met the sociopath, and things went south.
Luckily I was able to draw unemployment for the entire duration of my nursing school. Most unemployment benefits run out after a few months, but Bush initiated an act to extend benefits for those in the aerospace field affected by 9-11. In October 2003 I passed my NCLEX, and began working as a nurse.
Nurses "eat their own young." They warned us in nursing school, and I thought, "wow, it can't be that bad." It's true. To this day, I still can't understand why it has to be this way. I abhor gossip. Nurses are the biggest group of backbiters / backstabbers I have ever seen. Correction, female nurses. Maybe I'm just not seasoned to working with women, but it's something that I wish would change.
I spent the first six months of my new career at a Quaker run nursing home. I assumed it would be based on Christian principles, everyone working there doing it because they loved their job, and they loved God. I was wrong. I spent the last couple months trying not to kill my coworkers. When I worked with them, they were cool. As soon as I left, the talk started.
I left the Quakers and went to work for the Sheriff Department, as a jail nurse. Wow, this was great. I loved it, and the inmates liked me because I treated them like human beings, where the other nurses treated them like crap. It's innocent until proven guilty, right? Apparently not. Greg didn't like the fact that I worked with criminals, and that I was so trusting - he worried about me a lot. I liked my job, but there were issues there that I was concerned with. Narcotic issues. Actually, there was no narcotic accountability. It worried me, so reluctantly I quit and went to a nursing home 10 minutes from my house that I will refer to as "The Hole."
I have been at "The Hole" for 9 months now. It's not something I'm proud of, because it's not the nicest facility. It was at one time, but right now is not it. I guess most long term care facilities go through times of upheaval, and this is just a bad time for "The Hole." Sometimes I am actually ashamed to say I work there, but I stay there because the folks I work with are great. Plus I care about my residents and I know that when I work, they get really great care. Maybe I will get into my job on my next blog. It will definitely be entertaining, and it will be nice to get things about that place off my chest.
Wow, I'm tired. Just like that, I'm tired. "The Hole" will be a wonderful blog - so much goes on there, so much to talk and rant about. Maybe I will take the trusty laptop to work and blog when I have free time. Maybe I won't. Maybe I will.
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