The Big Five from the Big D

So...my secret blog boyfriend, The D, had this interview thing that he picked up...and as with most things you just happen to pick up, it was contagious and I caught it. I invited him to interview me in the same manner he was interviewed. Would he have the guts to ask the hard-hitting questions? You decide.

1. You’re a nurse more specifically you’re a cardiac nurse. Why did you decide on nursing as a profession and why a cardiac nurse as opposed to an ER or some other specialty?
My original plan was to be a band teacher or an English teacher. I loved music (I kicked major ass playing drums) and I loved to write. My family life was so crappy, that I would just hide in my room and write...short stories, long stories, or just journal about how crappy my family life was. It gave me an escape from said crappy life, not to mention it cut down on the time I had to deal with an alcoholic and sometimes inappropriate father.

I wish I could say that I was called to nursing by some great and benevolent agenda. After my dad died, becoming a nurse seemed a sensible choice. I would always have a job no matter where I went, it paid well, and I was good at it. Sometimes I make a difference. Sometimes, what I do is in vain. Sometimes, people get well and go on to be happy and productive. Other times, patients might get a little better, then go out in the world and resume the same shithead habits and I see them a month or two later...and it's back to square one. I come to one great and universal truth. The good die young and they are missed. The assholes live forever with the singular purpose of making my job a nightmare. The ones who are grateful are few and far between. Everyone else is just looking for a reason to sue so they don't have to work again.

In my perfect world, I would love to work more with transplants. People who give the gift of life and those who are blessed. I have been fortunate to be able to stand on all sides: to be asked to give that gift (which I ignorantly declined...a decision I regret each day), to see the skilled hands that make this happen (I got to stand in on an organ retrieval), and to see what happens when a person receives that second chance at life (through the experiences of my best friend, Kathryn). However, to work in such a field requires experience in certain fields: cardiac, critical care, etc. This is why I work where I work. I love my place of employment, but I hate the floor I work on. It's a means to an end. I'm not an adrenaline junkie, which is why I stay far away from the ER.

Truth be told, my first love is, and always will be, writing.

2. Why did you start blogging? What makes you keep doing it?
I have journaled for as long as I can remember. My church is big into journaling and keeping records, so that was a no-brainer. I started writing on legal notepads, then graduated to bound journals I bought at Office Max when I could afford it. I have volumes stored away that I like to go back and read. It's funny to go back and read about things I thought dire ten years ago, only to see them as stupid. I was such a dumbass in my younger years.

I started this blog a few years ago, wrote a couple posts, then just sort of forgot about it. It wasn't until Kant and her family started blogging that I got back in the saddle. I've not written in my journals since, but instead just blogged. I haven't come to that point where I am completely open in my blog, as I was when I journaled. I should be, but I am a big, fat chickenshit. Maybe someday I will be brave.

Everyone should journal in one form or another. It's your own personal history, and it's far more interesting than the regurgitated information you read in some boring history book. Sometimes, I wonder what my posterity will think of me when they read my writings. Probably that I am, indeed, a dumbass.

3. Have you ever punched, not slapped, a guy, (family does not count) in the face? Why? Be specific.
I've punched a guy in the gut, and that was once. The unfortunate recipient of my wrath was my dad in one moment of impropriety. Finally sick of the gross overtures, I socked him one. He left me alone after that. Alcoholics are nasty people.

I did throw a roller skate at a boyfriend of mine once when I was 16. It clocked him in the head. He made the mistake of punching me, I guess to show that he was the man or some lame bullshit like that. I'm pretty sure it wasn't the first time he had ever hit a girl. I'm also pretty sure that my reaction was completely different that the others. I jumped to my feet, screamed, "YOU SONOFABITCH!" and tore after him, grabbing the first thing I could scoop up...which happened to be his roller skate. He ran away from me like I was brandishing a big knife. I hurled the skate at him before he had a chance to make it to his room, and it turns out I can throw pretty well.

I immediately broke up with him and started dating another loser.

I've never punched a guy in the face, but if I did, it would totally clean his clock because I've got it like that. You grow up in a house full of boys, you learn to fight like one. No sissy girl fighting for me!!

4. You seem to go on a lot of cruises or at least you have been on more than one. Why cruises? What’s the appeal to you? Convince us (your readers) that we should go on a cruise? Why not just fly to each of these destinations? Would you go on an Alaskan cruise?
For as long as I could remember, I had always wanted to go on a cruise, and it has nothing to do with watching the Love Boat. The time came when I could actually afford to go, so I took Kant with me. I was hooked. I love the idea that my hotel room goes with me no matter where I go. That I can visit many places in one week, to see which places I like better than others so I can return to them for longer visits (by plane). I have been to Belize, Roatan(my favorite), Grand Cayman, St. Thomas, Tortola, Cozumel, Antigua(second favorite), San Juan, and Costa Maya just with the three cruises I have been on. I love the feel of the sea air on my face, the smell, and the sound of the waves as I am sitting on my balcony. I don't really go to the shows, and I don't go because of the food (although some of it is quite good). For the money, cruising is the way to go, and it can be anything you want it to be. It can be romantic, it can be one great big party, it can be relaxing, or it can be all of the above (although I can't personally speak on the romance part...I'm still working on that one.) Not to mention, it's nice having people cater to you for a week...beds made, meals cooked, drinks served.

Because of my love for cruising, I have met a great group of people with my adventures, and I now cruise with them as part of the Cruise Fools. I've booked my forth cruise with them for next year. You should check it out. Great rates, good times, and awesome friends to be found there. Maybe we can even cruise together!

I'd love to take an Alaskan cruise, and someday I will. Right now, I'm all about the Caribbean sun, the turquoise waters, and trying to get scuba lessons done so I can go exploring down where it's hotter, under de water.

5. Money is no object. You have unlimited funds. You have to buy one person one gift. Who is that person? What would you get them? You will never be able to get this person another gift ever.
My mother loves the Caribbean (I turned her into a cruise junkie). I guess I would buy her an island of her very own with all the trimmings...including her own private plane. It's an all-inclusive gift. That way, I can go visit her whenever I want. When I retire, I can go open up my own day spa and live out my days while the rest of civilization destroys itself. In the end, everyone wins.


So, that is the end of my interview. I must say, I expected much tougher questions. So, now I am going to pay this forward and I get to interview someone. Here are the rules:

1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.” (If I don't have your email address, leave it in the comment section or click on my profile and send me an email)

2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post. You will not be able to interview me.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.