Anticipation + Venting

Saturday last week was my last day at the Hospital. Next week, I will attend a mandatory orientation for new adjunct faculty. My decision to finally leave the Hospital was precipitated by another petty event - a she-says-she-says-kind-of-thing. Unfortunately, the Hospital is filled with gossip mongers and when you're an unwed pregnant employee, especially if you're a loudmouth pregnant unwed employee who likes telling her dirty little secret all over the place then swearing people to secrecy only to find out that the whole goddamn place knows your dirty laundry, well...news gets around. Although, I had nothing to do with it, key people from her circle of "friends," her cronies that are supposedly my "friends" also from the workplace, informed me of such succulent gossip that she's been dishing out then told her that I knew. Next thing I know, I'm involved in the middle of that fiasco. People calling people up. People hanging up and then comes a middle-aged woman accusing me of being a liar. My life is dramatic enough as it is. I don't need anymore from external sources. So, this event was the last straw. I secretly told everyone (in my head) to suck it. I gave my notice in June. Anyway, I had the teaching gig to look forward to in the Fall. It's no such big loss to stop working at the Hospital. I must say, God was good to me because the subsequent schedule I had after I decided to hand in my notice was amazing as though I planned it so deviously. I didn't have to work at all with that middle-aged lady to the point that she was asking other people if I was avoiding her! The wonders of destiny...

So I forgive them their pettiness anyway. I'm not just saying that. I'm extracting that forgiveness with a heavy-duty drill from my heart. In fact, I should do that to all those who have wronged me in the past. I guess it's my mea culpa too. No one's perfect.

So I'll be teaching my first class in two weeks. According to the roster I have from the College, there's about 20 students signed up already. I've been looking for different varieties of reading material. It's an ESL class and the theme, according to the ESL coordinator I spoke with at the beginning of the week, is "crossing cultures."

The Signs are Everywhere

You know the universe is telling you to do something when every goddamn person is asking you why you haven't done it yet. In my case, I've known for a while now that my time at the Hospital is up. It's just gotten unbearably ridiculous in the past couple of weeks. Remember the Russian-Jewish nurse, the typical tall-leggy type, who rolled her eyes at me when she found out I'm taking my Master's in English Lit? That's one. Then, in the past few weeks, everyone's been asking me when am I going to be done. As if to add more insult to (verbal) injury, there was one guy, a 23 year old nurse, who asked me, "So, are you going to be a Clerk with a Master's Degree?" Well. Now that it was put that way, I'm hoping not. I was putting off the composition teaching for a while but I can tarry no longer. I've decided that if Brooklyn College accepts my application to be an English Composition teacher, I'll take it and quit my illustrious job at the Hospital. I'll find out on May 26 since that's the day of my interview. Then I don't have to deal with these questions ever again. Instead, I'll be dealing with different questions. The universe, then, can't accuse me of not following the signs that my time is up and I better get my butt off the proverbial seat.