Chris Blogs about LA

Sitting on call at the west LA VA, and things are pretty chill at the moment (finds wood to knock on) so I'll take the time to do a quick update.

Work is going well, I'm in the psych ER this month filtering through the truly mentally ill and the punks trying to get a written psych eval so they can go get prescription marijuana from one of these phony lame excuses for doctors; not that it seems to be required these days, but some of these for-profit prescribers are asking for it now to help cover their butts legally. Which, of course is a gross misappropriation of resources, against all ethical standards, and illegal, so we're doing our best to involve the authorities as they come. Truth be told, it's only been 5 or 6 people that we know of, but it's still irritating. I digress.

But yeah, I'm on call which is typically a 28 hour shift. Go in at 8 am, work your regular day, go to call site, deny about 12 requests for unneccessary IM haldol, work till 8 am, go back to rotation site, tie loose ends, hopefully leave by noon. Exhausting, but we don't have to do it very often. Most months I only have 2 or 3 calls.

Moving on to more exciting fare, Lissa is doing pretty well on the acting scene. Her biggest coup so far has been landing a role as Anelle in a theatrical version of Steel Magnolias. It will be at the Covina Performing Arts Center and will run for a month starting in September. Also exciting is the possibility of a feature film in the works. A writer called her today for a new vampire flick that Castlerock has offered to buy and out of 1500 submissions, felt like Lissa might be perfect for the main supporting role. The only caveat is it films in Pittsburgh, but it would only be for a couple weeks tops and could be a big break.

Other things she has done so far have included work as an extra on It's Always Sunny in Philidelphia (girl at party) and Make it or Break it (spectator), photo shoot for the cover of a Honda CRV manual, and cast in two student films. She's having a lot of fun and has been pretty successful not even considering the short time we have been here.

The other member of our little family, Twinkie, is having a blast out here. She gets a walk for potty at least twice a day and has taken up pigeon chasing as a new favorite sport. There are three small dogs in our apartment her size (two pugs and a min pin) and one large golden retriever and they have all become great friends. She still tilts her head and goes nuts if we inadvertantly say Maybe or Perhaps to her in conversation.

Ah crap, getting a page. Whatever it is, please don't let it involve poop. Oh well, I think I've said enough on here for now. We miss everyone back in KY and hopefully can get out that way sometime soon.