Adventures/Contemplations/Other-stuffs from Alaska

[Shades Of Gray]

I've only been here a week so far, but already I've had some interesting things happen, so I think I'll share them with anyone interested here. It certainly is a different life...

[Shades Of Gray]

Everyone got really excited when they found out I'm a paramedic. I'm not sure why, but somehow that translates into other peoples brain as "emergency medical tech = doctor= tell this person of every illness/sickness/pain/bm-problem you're currently having..." Really though, it's fine. Amusing. I love to help people, and while a lot of the time I can't do anything than say "Uh, go talk to your doctor about that..." it's still nice to get some respect. Kinda fluffs the feathers a bit, you know? I left Seattle, disgruntled, mildly hurt because of the layoffs at the firestation (While doing my best not to take it personally, because it wasn't) and instead of being 'that new girl' I became 'the paramedic'. The Doc. Hawkeye.

Even thousands of miles away from Home, people are calling me Hawkeye, and I Love it.

Kinda makes me a little home sick though; I'm used to working with a partner, and here I don't have one. Not really. There's an older man we call 'Boats' who works with... all the boats ( ) He's the fire chief in someplace in Montana, so right off the bat we got along great. This man.. he's something else. In the middle of the day when we're crossing camp, we'll break out into song (because we discovered we like the same music) and just the other day we began singng show tunes and did a little jig before we went on our seperate ways. Bless this man, if such a thing were real, he certainly makes things easier around here.

And by easy... I mean a little more sane. I'm in a camp... god knows that there's going to be drama. Theres drama no matter where you go. But I myself, am not the gossiping type, I don't want to know/care who slept with who, and omg, did you hear....

Problem is, there isn't exactly a whole lot of work for me to be doing, until someone hurts themself. I'm no vulture, I'm not rubbing my palms together, looking for a man down... so I've actually been helping the lady in house keeping, since she's been by herself... and I'm thinking that this may have been a mistake. She's nice... but doesn't know when to stop talking, or presenting herself like a whore. And she's lazy, taking her time to finish a job that isn't hard, and while repetitive... rather very easily accomplished. She loves Alaska, but hates her job, she loves the camp, wants to socialize, but doesn't want to actually work to earn her money. It's frustrating to see people like this; the spoiled California girl, who does nothing more than complain about the bugs, the easy work, the food, the management and the everything, wanting instead to simply bum around camp, to flirt with the guys and make a vacation out of it. Frustrating, because I also find myself with a very low tollerance to this sort of uselessness.... I can't stand it.

Yet I have to live and work with her, so I keep my mouth shut.

Thank god for the breaks.

Nothing really serious yet, I had to call the Coast Guard once to heli-vac a client out, who was stupid and got himself hurt, but it was only because I didn't have the supplies needed here. He's fine, and actually returned to finish the last bit of his vacation. Yesterday, one of the Guides here, an Ex-cop named "JB" got a fishing hook stuck in his face. It wasn't his fault, one of his clients didn't know what the hell he was doing, and while he was instructed to wait... he didn't, and well, it's obvious what happened.

I was helping with house keeping again at that point, nearly finished with all the cabins, when Rik, one of the Maintenance guys (theres two brothers, and they're pretty damn amazing, I'm not going to lie.) came running up from the docks yellin' for me. Said "JB got hooked!". So, I dropped the laundry I was tossing in the cart, turned on a heal, and jogged/hobbled across the planks to the main lodge. (Hobbled, because I actually hurt myself a couple days ago, lol, and now my foot is so infected because of all this heat, dirt, and constantly being on my feet... well, the medic has to go to the hospital monday to get the foot lanced. I'm not a good patient...)

The emergency kit is bright orange, a large duffle bag that I just sorted and went through the day before, I there's no local anisthetic, since it was past 10 years expired.... So, knowing JB and how he was, I pulled a Coors Light from the fridge, cracked it open, ). That wasn't an option I wanted to take, truthfully. I've given stitches once, and they don't feel good... especially with no pain killer other than a beer. So, I leaned forward kissed JB on the forehead, and yanked the hook out at the same time. Nice and clean, he hardly felt the metal leave his face. It began to bleed again, he finished his beer, I cleaned it, bandaged it, and then we gave each others the fist bump before he was cleaned up and left to take his men out fishing again.

Nice and simple. 15 minutes of work...

I need to keep myself busy...