Pik-too-rays: Clinical Madness

1:16 am -- I've gotta stop making these posts in the middle of the night. My brain does frightening things. Er. Frighteninger.
5:05 pm -- The problem is, now I'm under pressure to be sane. I can't take that much pressure.
6:45 pm -- But I'll take a shot anyway. Well, as you probably know, we did a lot of work at Clinica Alabama, a medical clinic in Granada for those with very little income. I got to try our hands at several different tasks (the harm to my pronoun regulator is irreparable, I fear), one of which was helping to organize their rather messy and scattered pharmacy. Now, I happen to do very well with menial and monotonous tas---er, moiling, that is, a monotone metier if you will, but I'm afraid my dear sister gets rather bored rather quickly. She begins to amuse herself in any way available, and though I'd be content to let my mind wander, who am I to turn down a bit of...patternizing...and playing...with pill packaging.

We made all kinds of patterns with these bottles...and I mean all kinds. I just selected one for your enjoyment. But, O, and Lo, the suspense each time of what pattern we would try next, I tell you, the joy is uncontainable. Or unattainable. No, it's the first one.

Sometimes we shook up the order of things. Rather than do one bottle at a time, we'd open all the bottles at once. Elizabeth decided to make a lovely pyramid.

And not to be outdone, I proceeded to make an upside down pyramid...and then some.

Now, at first glance, this may look like just some stacks of pill bottles, but if you look closer, you'll realize it's a very intricate design to give that 3D appearance. There are actually three layers of barcodes here, arranged very deliberately, and I have to say, I could stare at it for hours. No, I really could.

I have one word for you: Furosemide. That little devil of a pill will be in my nightmares for years to come. They were little pills that came in those punch out packages, but the material was paper instead of that aluminum stuff, so they wouldn't just punch out. You had to individually rip each one out. The fastest way we found to do it (which was not actually fast at all) was to cut zigzag patterns across the packaging and then peel back the paper. The result was a bunch of gold coloured strips with spikes on one side. Now who wouldn't look at that and think crowns? Honestly? So we saved some strips and made Furosemide crowns. And then modeled them.

And if ever I got bored of pills, there were plenty of other things to get creative with. Here we have scissors, tape, a marker, and a container of paper strips for labeling. I can make art out of anything. You give me an anything and I will give you the whole world. Or, ya know, art.

And in case you were starting to doubt it, yes of course we did other things. Here I'm helping fill prescriptions. Or rather, taking a break from filling prescriptions and looking...what? Bored? Wistful? Mischievous? In love with my water bottle? Well, I was that. I mean, look at the thing. It's beautiful. I'll tell you what though. And something else too. You know how people say their math classes are a waste of time? Well it's a good thing I took all my math classes. I would have been lost in that pharmacy if I hadn't learned to count to sixty. And with all the preceding numbers too. Them pharmacists have it real tough, man.

And now, to give you a break from the clinic and to close off my Nicaragua posting, I give you...my legs. But not just any legs, I...well look at those beauties. "Lobster red" doesn't do them justice. This was the only time on the trip I got burned, and when I get burned, I do it with style. I mean, I've got four colours going on there. If you count white as a colour. And off-white as tan. I could barely walk for days. And the cruel, cruel irony of life is that the one time my sunburn turns into a tan, it's splotchy and uneven, with clear lines where the strings of my capris were. I defy anyone to have a more stylish sunburn.

But wait, there's more! We're not done with my legs yet! The mosquitos decided my legs needed even more distinction. I look diseased.

So there you go. My Nicaragua Chronicling is done.

Did ew know...?

Spiders are good at playing dead.

Thank you for choosing Lod's Little Tidbits, and have a nice day.

Cas*: Ew. I hate Spongebob. But if you mean to say they're cute, I heartily agree. ;-)= Our allergies were not bad at all. The heat (and consequently the headaches) was much more of a problem than allergies were. Also, hardly any kitties ( :-(= ), so again, no allergies. There are more pics, if you're interesting in seeing them sometime. I do actually have them on a CD, so we don't have to wait for Elizabeth, if you're interested. Or did you see them already? Oh, and I'm glad I have such a strong power of suggestion. :D