Today's waste of energy

This is another one of those annoying events that really happened.

T: *on her computer making a church flier*
Me: *working*
T: Alexis, would you run up to the fourth floor and bring down records for me?
Me: *grits teeth and sets down work* Sure.
T: *goes back to misusing resources*

Up on the fourth floor:

Me: Hi, K! Do you have any records for me to bring down?
K: I brought them all down about 15 minutes ago - T checked them in. Is she looking for any record in particular?
Me: ...No. Thanks, though.

So, yes, I got to disrupt the flow of my work and run up and down two flights of stairs looking for records T had all but just checked in, while she devoted her morning to stuff for her church. Not cool. On the plus side, I'm getting plenty of exercise.

In other news, I'm reading Cunt by Inga Muscio and, if you're a woman and you haven't read/aren't currently planning to read it, you should put it at the top of your to-read list ASAP. And then make sure you read it on a bus, or in a like public space, to get the added bonus of disapproving and scandlized looks. It's pretty awesome.

After an unplanned hiatus...

I have work stories! Specifically, work stories of horror and woe. If you don't know, this job is brilliant for the money and the no-weekends thing, but otherwise completely horrific. The lead (I'll call her T, because it's a bad idea to use names here) is a stupid bitch who makes everything massively more difficult than it needs to be and speaks to me in that condescending tone reserved for children and very stupid people, the other permanent person (I'll call her V) snaps all the time, and the other temporary person is also kind of nasty. The personalities clash, I'm always the one blamed for problems, and it's pretty much the worst work environment ever. I've never been treated so badly in my life.

My supervisor (G) is great, and the people I work with from 2-5 every day are awesome, as is pretty much every other person in the clinic, but the people I work with most of the time? Yeah, they suck.

So, have some Real Life Events that will hopefully show just why this job is turning out to be hell.

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Today's theme: Computers

1. I didn't have a log-in until last Monday (I started on 15 June). Finally, though, G came by in the morning when I was the only one in, because everyone else is chronically late, and told me that the log-in was ready and I needed to call MIS to get the temporary password and do the set-up. I knew I'd have to call MIS, because I had a county job last year and you always have to call them first, so I told G that I'd do it sometime that morning, after everyone else was in. All fine and good.

About a half-hour after the lead got in, she and I had the following conversation:

T: Alexis, have you logged in yet?
Me: No, I still have to call MIS.
T: Well, I'd like you to log in now.
Me: Okay, just let me put this file away and then I'll call MIS.
T: No, don't do that, just log in right now, please.
Me: Um, what? G came by this morning and told me to call MIS first, for the set-up. Gimme a minute and it'll be ready.
T: Well, G sent me an email and told me to have you try logging in. Don't argue with me, please.
Me: o.O Okay. What's my temporary password?
T: You don't know your password?
Me: ...No. Because I haven't called MIS.
T: You better call MIS first, then.

Yes, this really happened.

2. Again with the log-in issues. The people in medical records share their log-in info, because the computers time out after 15 minutes and you need a password to get back in. I picked a really simple, easy-to-remember password with the idea that, since a computer had been designated mine, it would only make sense to let them have the info. Otherwise, when I'm not in the room, the computer will be locked and useless. V told me not to give it to her, because I should have my privacy. I said something facetious along the lines of: I don't even have an outlook account - I have nothing to hide. She insisted that, no, don't worry about it, it really won't be a big deal. Then, the next day, I got the following:

T: Alexis, honey, when you leave the room make sure you log out. We don't know your log-in, so it's really inconvenient for us when you forget.
Me: Do you want the log-in? I can give it to you, so it'll never be an issue.
T: No, you just need to be more careful. You've forgotten to log out every day and it's getting to be a problem.
Me: I've only had a log-in since yesterday... Um, okay, I'll do that, then.

Then, a little later:

V: It is useless to have this phone turned on when you're logged in at this computer! Don't even bother next time, because it's really annoying.
Me: o.O Right. I'll remember that.

3. Sometimes records get misfiled. When there are hundreds of records, it happens. We're as careful as possible, but numbers just start looking alike after awhile, you know? Anyway, a file was missing last week for a couple of days, no one could fine it, and when it was found it was in the 27s (the file itself was a 40-something). My guess? The patient's birthday is 1927 and whoever filed it looked at the birthday rather than the medical record number (on the labels, the birthday is listed without spaces or slash marks, just like the MRN). Apparently, this potential confusion had never occurred to anyone else, but it makes sense to me. On Thursday, another file was missing and T told me to look for it.

T: Would you try to find this file?
Me: Sure. Have you checked by the last two numbers in the birthday? 'Cause we found that one file in the 27s, so it could have happened again.
T: No, I haven't.
Me: Okay, I'll try that first, then. *sits down at computer to look up the birthday, because it's not printed on the out card*
T: *like I'm an idiot* Why are you getting on the computer?
Me: ...To look up the birthday.
T: Oh, right.

This woman? Yeah, she's gonna drive me to screaming insanity. I can't stand working with her.

Iran

دنیارابگوییدچطورآنهاانتخاباتمان دزدیده اند

Tell the world how they have stolen our election

If you somehow don't know what's going on, there are mass protests in Iran right now. On Friday, millions of people voted and, even though Mousavi (who is progressive and stands for change and positive relations with the rest of the world) was winning by two-thirds, all of a sudden the results changed and Ahmadinejad (who leads the oppressive existing regime) had 68%. The election was stolen.

But, for the first time in a very long time, the Iranian people fought back. People almost immediately took to the streets, shouting 'Death to the dictator!' and 'Allah o akbar.' They came together to protest peacefully. The police started attacking, but they didn't let that stop them. Riots started, the shouting kept going all night. Test messaging has been disabled, information-sharing sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are blocked, satellite is down. At 5AM Arabic-speaking soldiers from Lebanon (Arabic is not the Iranian language - that's Farsi) stormed a major university in Tehran. Five sleeping students were killed, many more were injured. 192 members of the university faculty have resigned in protest.

Mousavi requested that a peaceful protest be allowed, but the request was denied, so a lot of people thought it wouldn't happen. However, at first a few thousand people showed up on the streets of Tehran this morning, and at this point it's estimated that between 1 and 2 million people are out there. Mousavi spoke, the police stood by, and at first it was peaceful.

Now people are dying, getting shot and beaten in the street. People in Iran who have found a way to access Twitter are sharing photos and news. The Green Revolution is on.

If you're out of the loop, check it:

Pictures
News

I started my job

Today was, in fact, my second day. I'm working at a clinic, as I said, in medical records from 8-2, then I'm working on a more specific records-centric project from 2-5. I get an hour lunch, which is both awesome and lame because it means I don't get home till almost 6 if I'm lucky enough to catch the 5:05 bus. Yesterday, I failed, today I was told that it's okay if I leave 10 minutes early, so it was all good.

Honestly? This is the most laid back work environment I've ever been in. I can wear whatever I want, as long as it's not skanky (or open-toed shoes, technically, since it's a clinic that will soon also have a needle exchange), I was explicitly told that it's okay if my lunch runs a few minutes over, no one cares, and they're letting me duck out early so I don't miss my bus home.

The work itself is mindless, but there's a ton of it so the time goes by pretty fast, and I'm getting a fair amount of exercise because I'm moving all the time. The elevator is out and a lot of my job involves walking, crouching and reaching, so I'm not just sitting at a desk all day.

Unfortunately, the people are problematic. The personalities of the three permanent people clash, they're snappish and not always very nice, and it's just kind of an unpleasant dynamic. There's also that horrible bitchy two-faced bullshit women sometimes pull - the head of the department and the woman who actually does most of the work act really sweet when they're both there, but when one is out of the room, the bitchy comments start up. It's awful. I don't like the lead, myself, she doesn't do much of anything, but tells everyone else to work more, but still. The fakey friendship thing they've got going on bothers me. It's one thing to be friendly and civil, but they're over the top with pretending to really love each other. I don't know, I feel like I'm going to get really sick of the environment really fast, but it's good money, so I'll handle it.

And... that's all I've got! I'm liking being downtown during the day, that's really nice. I'm not sitting around bored anymore!

More of the same, really

First of all, I've found a 60-hour online TEFL (synonymous with TESOL/CELTA/the 20 other acronyms that all amount to the same thing) course that I think I'm going to register for after I get my second check. The first check will be next Thursday, so I'm going to wait a little longer before doing anything that costs much money. It's $310, accredited, and is a 40-hour basic Teaching English as a Foreign Language certification course plus a 20-hour extra grammar course that will up my overall qualification. Considering my total lack of practical teaching experience (and my inability to change that before I'll be applying for work), this is the best I can do to make myself more competitive. I'm planning on calling the school that offers these online classes when I get closer to registering to ask some final clarification questions, of course, but I think it'll work out well.

Can you tell I'm getting a little anxious about this? It seemed so far away for so long that I wasn't really thinking about it, until I realised that, if I do want to go back to Japan, I'm going to have to start figuring things out in September. Almost a year before I'd be leaving. And right now I'm in a sort of liminal space, waiting until I can do something.

And, you know, it's kind of funny - I'm putting all this work into being an English teacher when it's only a short-term ambition. I have no intention of teaching forever. Really, I (like a lot of other people) am planning on using teaching as a means to something else. Basically, this is my skillset: I'm very fluent in English, I'm going to be fluent in Japanese, I can read, I can speak well, and I can write. I still want to do the graduate program at TIU, but that's just more school, nothing permanent. Actually, what I'd really like to do ultimately is write books about Japan in English. Not travel books or books on subjects that have been done to death (because, really, do we need another book on geisha?), but rather English language books on things that don't get much attention. There are so many topics that foreigners, for whatever reason, just don't touch and I want to take them on.

I want to take pictures of the things travel writers and tourists don't really look at. I want to write about teenagers and the elderly and the assholes at immigration. I want to go to towns 95% of the foreigners who go to Japan have never even heard of and document them, or take the long way to Kansai from Tokyo, rather than the shinkansen, and write about the people I meet. And maybe no one would buy the books, but I would have so much fun writing them that I wouldn't even care.

It's kind of crazy how motivated you get when you realise that, actually, you do have somewhere you want to end up. And it's just vague enough that it will drive my mother nuts worrying that I'm going to finish school and not know what to do with myself.

Haircut!

Yes, I went this morning to the salon I've been going to for about a year now, and got my hair cut. I based it on the picture I posted here and the stylist (who used to live in Japan, oddly enough) loved it enough to keep the picture when I left, in case other people are looking for inspiration for a short cut. It's much shorter than anything I've had in... ever, but it's really light and cute. I'm really happy with it.

So, you all get a picture taken with my Myspace-style photography skills. I couldn't get a good one showing both sides, okay?


Cute, huh? I'm really pleased.