Y’all know about my weird, vivid dreams - no need to go into that. Getting straight to the point, I dreamed I went out with Pinky. Never having seen a photograph of Pinky, my mind had to manufacture a psychic doppleganger to stand in: she looked like Catherine Zeta Jones, and she was wearing a mauve shirt emblazoned with the words HOT STUFF. We were having dinner, seated at opposite ends of a really long table - comically long, like Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam in one famous Looney Tunes episode (yeah, I know you can get a bunch of Freudian stuff out of this).

She took a sip of wine, and said, “You’re a fatass, but you’ve got a pretty face.”

And that was the dream. Heh.

Hospital worker admits oral sex on patient

MIAMI BEACH, Fla., May 24 (UPI) – A former employee of Florida’s Mount Sinai Medical Center faces criminal charges after admitting to performing oral sex on a patient, police said.

Hialeah, Fla., resident Pedro J. Gonzalez, 27, was charged with sexual battery, Miami Beach police said.

The hospital fired Gonzalez after the April 30 incident, The Miami Herald reported Thursday.

Gonzalez’s hospital duties included wheeling patients through the building.

”Even an isolated incident is unacceptable. We worked very closely with the Miami Beach police on this matter, and will continue to assist the authorities until a proper resolution is achieved,” said hospital spokeswoman Pamela Gadinsky.

The 31-year-old surgery patient said he was waking up from anesthesia when he shoved Gonzalez away after he “began to perform oral sex” on him.

Source 

Just saw a story in the Herald online that I think is interesting, considering the subject was broached not long ago on Fat’s excellent, albeit spooky, post “Ghost Story: Devil Dog.” In the comments section, I wrote:

When I was about 20, I got a job working as an aide in a nursing home, graveyard shift. Nor Bell nursing home, in N. Bellingham it was (that’s what old-timers call that part of the county), corner of Smith Road and Northwest - it’s been converted into some county administrative building, now.

To get to the point - this was the old county hospital, many, many years ago. When I was working there, while making my rounds at night in my wing I would enter the darkened rooms to refresh water, empty urinals and stuff, and I was always seeing shit out of the corner of my eye. I would look and nothing would be there. Sometimes it would just make my skin crawl, but I never really thought much of it - just assumed it a product of working so late, glints of light off metallic surfaces, etc. In retrospect though, I bet a bunch of people died there.

The current leading story at the Herald Online is entitled: “Uncertainty over ‘landmark’ at Smith and Northwest: County weighs its options for site that housed poor farm, hospital,” and it starts off with the following–

Some employees say ghosts haunt the county building at Smith Road and Northwest Drive. A history book says the original property owner, stabbed to death with a butcher knife for flirting with a man’s wife, is buried somewhere on the property.

So, without reaching any sort of overly dramatic conclusions, I can say that apparently I was not the only person there who experienced things, there, that made them wonder….

I may have mentioned here, once or twice before, that I often feel like my life is a kind of Truman Show. My bro, MrBobFisherFinger, has expressed similar sentiments, especially where family matters are concerned, and he said it would be cool if somehow it could be made into a sitcom. So, the following is a stab at something like that, albeit as a kind of “Wonder Years” monologue. But I can see it in my mind, and if only I had endless money and connections….

Even if you don’t wanna read it, be sure to check the pics after the jump out. They’re funny - or at least I think so.
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MrBobFisherFinger + family + friends + Stink went down to the Skagit Valley Tulip fields today. Don’t worry - I’m not going to torment you with endless flower pictures - if you want to see those, drop by GreatNorthwest in the next couple days, and I’ll have them up there. I did however, want to share a few snaps of “curious phenomena” I encountered on the trip….

First of all, the traffic was really horrible, because everybody and his brother and half the Japanese nation was taking advantage of the break in the spring rains to see the tulips. As we neared the first field of our expedition , creeping along in a line of tortuously slow stop-and-go traffic, we found ourselves at an intersection with endless lines of cars in four directions. There were these two doofuses - a man and a woman - in safety vests trying to direct traffic, but they were utterly clueless. Apparently the guy was seeing an emergency vehicle off in the distance (I couldn’t see it), and he decided to stop all the lines of cars to wait for it. Except it never arrived. So there it was - four lines of cars, at a four way stop, nothing moving. After a minute or so, the lady and the dude started arguing, and then yelling at each other, while we sat there, mouths agape. People were starting to honk their horns in racuous chorus.

“Uh-heh-heh-he-heh-heh-heh,” I said, in my best Butthead impression, “this is cool.”

But man, it was stupid. Finally, they started letting cars go again. Apparently Lisa moved the car when she wasn’t supposed to, and the big woman in the safety vest got mad at her– (more…)

By way of explanation, my mistrust of the medical establishment is rooted in the following. When I came back to Bellingham in 1999 after my divorce, a complete basket case, I went to a certain doctor on the recommendation of a relative, for anxiety and depression. When I severed relations with this doctor a year after I first saw him, he had me on three different kinds of benzodiazepenes (tranquilizers: clorazepate, lorazepam, and oxazepam), two antidepressants (wellbutrin, zoloft), a mood stabilizer (valproate), and an anti-anxieletic (buspar). I was a drugged out zombie, and it was only the intervention of my family that finally talked some sense into me and got me out of the grip of this toxic man.

Who was he, and how did he end up?

Sexual contact with patient, giving expired flu shots among findings leading state to permanently revoke Bellingham physician’s license

OLYMPIA - The Medical Quality Assurance Commission and the state Department of Health have permanently revoked the license of Bellingham physician Gary McCallum (MD00034396). Dr. McCallum has no right to reapply for a license in this state.

In 2004, McCallum administered expired flu vaccine that was not approved for use in the U.S. to his patients. In 2001, he had sexual intercourse with a patient and took photos of a child’s genitalia without a therapeutic reason. He provided negligent care to patients, kept poor records and allowed unlicensed people in his office to give injections. McCallum also took merchandise from several local stores without paying and provided false information during the investigation.

The Medical Quality Assurance Commission held a 10 day open public hearing during January and February 2006 in Bellingham. Following the hearing the commission determined permanent revocation was appropriate in order to protect the public.

The Medical Quality Assurance Commission regulates physicians and physician assistants in Washington. The program establishes, monitors, and enforces qualifications for licensing, consistent standards of practice, continuing competency mechanisms and discipline. Rules, policies and procedures promote the delivery of quality health care to state residents.

(Source: http://www.doh.wa.gov/publicat/2006_news/06-055.htm)

Sadly, this seems to be a radio interview, so there’s just a static picture. However, Harlan Ellison is such a hyperactive speaker you hardly notice.

Now, first off, Harlan Ellison is the only person in the fucking UNIVERSE who can out-talk Robin Williams to the point that Robin seems sedate and boring by comparison.

But more importantly, it’s absolutely fascinating to hear about the origin of Scientology. It was a goof! A bunch of pulp authors getting together to get wasted and trade stories results in the wackiest of the wacky religions, care of L. Ron Hubbard, money hungry pulp novelist.

The picture from Middle’s most recent post made me think of a famous old SF short-short story by Richard Matheson entitled “Born of Man and Woman.” It’s in the Science Fiction Hall of Fame bound series, and it’s short enough to post here in its entirety–

I first read it many years ago, when I was in high school. It is not a “nice” story in any sense of the word. Quite disturbing, in fact.

BORN OF MAN AND WOMAN
by Richard Matheson

X — This day when it had light mother called me retch. You retch she said. I saw in her eyes the anger. I wonder what it is a retch.

This day it had water falling from upstairs. It fell all around. I saw that. The ground of the back I watched from the little window. The ground it sucked up the water like thirsty lips. It drank too much and it got sick and runny brown. I didn’t like it.

Mother is a pretty I know. In my bed place with cold walls around I have a paper things that was behind the furnace. It says on it SCREENSTARS. I see in the pictures faces like of mother and father. Father says they are pretty. Once he said it. And also mother he said. Mother so pretty and me decent enough. Look at you he said and didnt have the nice face. I touched his arm and said it is alright father. He shook and pulled away where I couldn’t reach. Today mother let me off the chain a little so I could look out the little window. Thats how I saw the water falling from upstairs.

(the rest after the jump)

(more…)

The link below is to an awesome short story from the fifties. It came to mind this morning, so I looked for it on the net, and found it. Really a masterpiece, in my opinion. Not very long, but it really captures my imagination.

Don’t read the introduction; it has spoilers. Scroll down and read the story. Read the introduction after, if you like.

“A Pail Of Air” by Fritz Leiber