Two Posts in Two Days????

Gasp! Shock! Unbelievable!

But here I am, having a quiet moment as the staff has their lunch break (I had an early one). We only have a couple of patients today, so the work load is light. So light, in fact, that I've been able to work on some personal issues that are so ridiculous that to even mention them would probably cause uncontrollable and near fatal laughing fits.

But I'll tell you anyway.

Yesterday my boss comes into my (new! improved!) office and gives me some most excellent news. She says that there's a new full time position, with benefits (government benefits, no less!) that is mine for the taking. The only thing I have to do is a) fill out an application, and b) - this is the kicker - get a letter from a medical doctor, preferably a psychiatrist, saying that I am nuttier than a fruitcake and incapable of working in this field if I were not being treated for my condition.

How's that again?

Okay, I freely and openly state that I have bipolar II (We're number 2; we try harder!). Normally, it's not a big deal. I take my meds, I went to my counseling appointments back when I needed that kind of help, and life goes on. But for reasons that I will get to in a moment, I need to prove that I could apply for disability benefits (probably a stretch, and I'm certainly not going to try, but there you go) and would be incapacitated if I did not abide by my medical regimen.

Apparently for me to move from a contract, almost mercenary, position to a full time government lackey requires me to show that I'm a vet, disabled, or already employed by a connected medical facility to get preferential treatment in the selection process. Well, I'm not a vet and I haven't worked for any other hospital connected to this one. So that leaves the disability angle. Grrr. The fact that I don't consider myself to be disabled apparently doesn't matter much. I want the job so I have to play by their rules.

Yesterday I called both my psychiatrist's office in Virginia and my doctor here in Nashville. Then today I wrote a letter that I wanted my doc here to sign off on and put on his letterhead, faxed that over, and am now waiting to get the signed copy back. Hopefully that will be enough to get me the job. If not, I'm going to have to stay in this contractual, no benefits work situation for a while. At least until One Ring gets to the dissertation writing stage. I can't think much beyond that.

There's more going on, from having a friend whom I haven't seen for 20 years drop visit to more guitar drama and lessons. But I'll save that for a little later today. Have to spread my work out. Especially on boring days like today!