Friday, November 23, 2007

Sweet Nostalgia, or, It Seems I've Spent Some 20 Years Just A-Gazin' At Her Face

I continue to watch, intermittently, old episodes of ER. I enjoy it for its own, simple joys, but also for the memories inspires of who I was and what I was doing when I watched it the first time around.

I know, incidentally, that I need to get out more.

I particularly enjoy the episode depicting Carter's first day on the job. The sheer terror, and hopelessness of it all, countered by his eventually overcoming of the challenges set him. How realistic? I can't speak for my American cousins, but it was never that bad for the young Shroom, but we did pull long hours, and I did feel like going under sometimes, times that I now recall fondly, viewing the past thru rose tinted fertiliser, if you will. In fact, I think I was just approaching qualification myself the first time this was out...

All old farts eventually have 'war stories' about how hard things were "in their day". I'm disappointed to say I was too young to hear, or maybe too young to remember, GrandPa Shroom's stories, tho I'm sure there were plenty. He was good friends with the first Medic into Belsen at the end of WW2. Those were tales... I think my point was going to be that the common thread tends to be success in the face of adversity.

It makes it much easier to recount a tale of horrendous times if it ends well; sometimes well means getting to the end of the night. Sometimes that's all you can do. I encountered a 'brag-file' story of a different kind, over at M.D.O.D. Hugely satisfying, especially the exhortation to 'go fondle the guy's nuts'. My kinda medical jargon.

2 comments:

911DOC said...

hey doc. you may not know this, but the post quoting whitman on our blog was written by our freaky colleague etotheipi, pathologist by trade and misogynist/misanthrope by birth.

911DOC said...

oh, the rest of us are ER docs or, as i am fond of saying, 'simple car crash physicians'.