{"id":3217,"date":"2009-09-22T01:02:04","date_gmt":"2009-09-22T09:02:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.godammit.com\/?p=3217"},"modified":"2009-09-22T01:02:04","modified_gmt":"2009-09-22T09:02:04","slug":"hospital-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/godammit.com\/hospital-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Hospital Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hospital life is an alternate universe where time is different, people are different, and you start enjoying the hand sanitizer. I’ve gotten so sick of myself and my own story that the sound of someone yelling personal shit into a phone is fascinating beyond belief. I listened to a guy screaming emotionally about obscure family dramas as he paced back and forth, tearing at his hair. I hoped I could lure him into confiding in me before he disappeared down the hall.<\/p>\n

Since the hospital Proudly Serves Starbucks, one spends about $15 a day for the relief of having a hot drink to hold when one is kicked out of the ICU for staff changes or Procedures. One soon becomes familiar with all the restrooms, the limited offerings of the gift shop, and the places where one can get a phone signal.<\/p>\n

For the fashion-conscious, the hospital is a big wake-up call. I hate the term “wake-up call.” I could have said “eye-opener” but I hate that too, although not with the same intensity. No one dresses with any discernible style at the hospital. In nearly three weeks, I have seen exactly two women wearing Fierce Shoes. One looked like a misplaced prostitute\/fashionista, and the other appeared to be a deluded immigrant of some kind. Today in the elevator, however, I saw an old lady (i.e., my age) wearing an embroidered cardigan that I myself purchased last year from the Lucky Jeans store. \u00a0 The cardigan is dead to me now.<\/p>\n

What I’d really like is to slowly re-accustom myself to non-Hospital Life, but that is not going to happen anytime soon. \u00a0 Maybe I can at least cut down on the coffee but that is even more unlikely.<\/p>\n

The weirdest part of all is coming home to my other life, and to my computer. The stuff I paid so much attention to is vaguely absurd, but somehow comforting. I just saw some pictures of Tavi at Fashion Week, dressed like an old lady at a bingo table in Miami. I’m waiting for her to take off that dwarf costume and go “Ha ha, suckers!” Not because she’s too sophisticated to be a kid but because her style is so fucking awful.<\/p>\n

That’s it for now. \u00a0 Who wants to come up with an idea for a contest where the prize is that dead cardigan?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"