I dont agree with Nietzsche religious ideals...but there is something to his teachings, his other teachings...

from a book review of Nietzsche's "Good vs. Evil":

Nietzsche observed that the "will to live" was not life affirming enough and that humankind needed a higher power. Therefore, Nietzsche theorized that living beings were not just motivated by a survival instinct to live. He understood that beings had a higher need, which he called the "will to power." One can easily interpret Nietzsche's "will to power" as a method by which people strive to grow and nurture their creative energies, and interact with the world. Nietzsche thinks that "will to power" was coupled with humankind's innate nature and passion to create. Nietzsche thinks that this "will to power" was the true driving force of humankind. "A living thing seeks above all to discharge its strength--life itself is will to power, self-preservation is only one of the indirect and most frequent results" (Nietzsche Aphorism 13). The "will to power" causes humans to dominate and impose their will on others. Thus for Nietzsche, humankind's "will to power" meant that life and will is the exploitation of others, and it has been since the beginning of time, immemorial (Nietzsche Aphorism 258). In fact, Nietzsche believed that one could take his concept of the "will to power" one-step further, and use it to explain the motivations of whole societies, and nation states, as well as the individual (Nietzsche aphorism 257, 259).

Nietzsche tends to be very passionate and absolutist in his aphorisms. He wrote so much that one could find plenty of instances in his works where he has contradicted himself. Nietzsche's concept of "will to power" is a philosophic thought, which led to many interpretations. To assume that Nietzsche thought that the primary instincts of the human being came down to violence and little else, amounts to a gross underestimation of Nietzsche's views of humankind. However, most of his writings on the concept of a "will to power," if interpreted as being violent, have to be understood more in vain with what he saw as the constant struggle of overcoming one's individual weaknesses (Nietzsche aphorism 22, 260). Nietzsche envisioned his "will to power" more along the lines of applying one's will in self-overcoming. Nietzsche's writings about violence are usually meant as violence against giving in to the herd or slave morality. The herd, as Nietzsche names it, is the vast majority of humans who throughout history have obeyed and followed the status quo. The herd has stymied human development with their slave morality (Nietzsche aphorism 198, 199). The slave morality invented the dichotomy of good and evil. "Moral judgments and condemnations constitute the favorite revenge of the spiritually limited against those less limited" (Nietzsche aphorism 219). The herd morality causes people to sublimate their creative drive. Thus, Nietzsche is imploring the few noble humans--the few geniuses to struggle against following the herd morality. Nietzsche wants the noble people to invent their own morality and values to live their lives by, and to fulfill their own "will to power" and not indulge in an effort to attract others to their values (Nietzsche aphorism 199, 201, 260).

Can't you just see how this applies to life today? How so many people follow the status quo: work like rats, eat like pigs, and shop to "sublimate their creative drive"...there are herds in the world today..many, many herds...and this is why I put this here...to show his insight.

I also agree with the need for us to invent our own morality and values to live our lives by and to fulfill our own will to power...
and I don't mean being a skull worshiper or a turning a tattoo obsession into a religion...I mean if you can't be traditionally moral then create your own morality...at least it is morality of some sort...if good vs evil is too old fashioned for you then think beyond it...but think...is the key..something I am fearing we are losing...I fear the world is becoming thoughtless...by taking the easy thoughts to heart before the smart ones. I only wish mankind's need to create was so innate... more than creating children or offspring...that is a minimal, animalistic instinct and the result of a more basic need.

I agree with some of it...I don't like his opinions against Christianity though...I felt slighted and insulted when reading those insights.

what do you think?
any philosophers out there?

I have to say it helped to sleep until after 9 am today. I skipped yoga this morning and made a huge breakfast: potato/feta/parsley/green onion and cilantro fritatta, homemade salsa with sweet cherry tomatoes and mango with a bit of jalapeno, Italian Bread french toast with brown sugar, various bread/rolls with butter and homemade jam (made by the Amish), fried potatoes with feta and parsley, coffee, juice, chocolate milk....

ahhhh..we all feel better now.

I don't think of myself as a competitive person..but..when I see the nurses at work doing this job and getting it done well....well..it makes me want to do it too. They all complain too..and they say it takes time to really get used to it. I am going to try to not complain and give myself until May..I am putting in for overtime for overtime worked (so they realize how much time it takes...the other nurses do that too) ...we will see how long this lasts. I am going to try to get done everything by dinner time and not do so much at night if at all possible.

wish me luck.

nOw I am all excited to wash my windows

lol

Grandma's apron


I don't think our kids know what an apron is.

The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress
underneath, but along with that:

it served as a potholder for removing
hot pans from the oven.

It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even
used for cleaning out dirty ears.

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy
chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming
oven.

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.

And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot
wood stove.

Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.

From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas
had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.

In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen
from the trees.

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much
furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her
apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to
dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will
replace that "old-time apron" that served so many purposes.

LOVE THAT!

I hope our new mayor gives every city dweller a broom and gives them a ticket if they don't use it.

The city, in parts, is truly unimaginably dirty. It actually brings me to tears.

Why cry? Because how can people live around that filth? What is it that they are caring about that is more important then the place that surrounds them and their families. The dirtiest places have more people not working than anywhere else.

It sometimes looks to me like true "giving up". If I see another hoagie shop or nail salon I am going to scream. I like hoagies and manicures too..but the multitudes of this stuff just screams mixed up priorities. So many people spend their days trying to get things instead of trying to accomplish things. Not only are they unproductive but they are high utilizers of everything productive people produce.
oh I am really tired.

How can so many people spend their days doing nothing about nothing? How many people try to do as less as possible..why? why do they think this is a good thing?

I have a patient who's husband (he is 84) is always doing something..cleaning the windows, fixing the coffee pot, making a bell for his wife to ring if she needs him when he is tinkering in the basket. Last month he was plastering his wall in the basement...they shop, cook, clean, he takes care of her...she is sick now. He had cancer too..and now is OK..not great health but "he manages".

I see them, and I admire them..they have pride and motivation.

And then others do nothing..lay around, smoke, drink, eat...some people really just act like animals...years and generations of not having good examples have left millions to live like they can care less about themselves or anything else..and yet they want others to care about them...and you know what..it is only getting worse....and sooner or later it is going to be a really big problem...as it already is..but it will keep snowballing. What can be done about this?

Some people want to send them more help! Don't they see what you give doesn't help?

What can be done about this?

I wish I knew!

I have so many patients who have kids, lots of kids, they never see, they don't know where they are, they barely remember their names or their ages.....it isn't uncommon. No one helps them. But no one was ever willing to show or tell the kids how to help or how to care because no one cared about them...

I am afraid it is too late...WAYYYYYY too late.

I wonder if Nutter worries about that? I hope Nutter is nuttier than me...we need a nut. We need a real nut!

I was so excited it was Friday. I planned to get home, have dinner, do my paperwork and watch a movie. Well, it is almost midnight and except for a small brake or two I have been doing paperwork all night..and last night, and the night before...my hair is a mess, my skin is breaking out, I eat everything that isn't nailed down, I need at least 2 glasses of wine and Advil or Ibuprofen before I can go to bed, and I cry on and off all day. I've gained 7 lbs since september.

The job that started out as great has turned into a nightmare..and didn't I know it as I said it! JINX?

Anyway...the paperwork is so herendous I can't think straight. My kids are even wondering why I am always writing. My neck hurts, my hands ache, my carpel tunnel is acting up...

I love my patients. I adore most of them. I like taking care of them.
I have been thrown back into the health care system and the bureaucratic nonsense is unreal.

If I ask 5 people in my office a question,the very same question, I get 3 DIFFERENT answers and they all start with "you must do it this way...."

This was my day today ..so you don't think I am exaggerating

patient number 1: visit time 45 minutes in home: holes in the floor so big they need to put down big pieces of boards to get threw the living room, the patient has such bad inflammatory breast cancer ..she is shaking and sleeping as she speaks to me, her pain is excrutiating, her manner is shocked, her house is dirty, and her family is barely able to cope with real life let alone this.
I just admitted her on saturday (37 pieces of paper) and now, today, I am referring her to hospice (6 pieces of paper) plus about 8 phone calls for supplies, doctor orders for the supplies, medications, and transfer and then more calls to my supervisor about the transfer and about canceling the other entities that I ordered on saturday. Paperwork time and calls about another 2 hours. NO exaggeration.

2: old Italian lady who speaks 3 words of English..she is crying that leaving Italy was a mistake (53 years ago), now she has a colostomy that has her crying buckets. Her husband is so sweet/he was baking bread. I want to lay on their sofa and take a nap and take deep breaths of their fragrant home air. She strokes MY arm as she talks to me and I act like I understand every word she says and overuse the 8 Italian words I know smiling like an idiot.

3: a wound care patient..very sweet, great house and family...but she asks me the same three questions about 20 times...very anxious to get better. I love her like an aunt..well, almost.

4: get to patient's house to find out she is in the hospital/no answer but went anyway since she is so sick: cancer patient with a huge draining abdominal wound..the surgeon told her yesterday it looks great, today the oncologist sent her immediately to the hospital

5: get to patient's house to find him in the hospital/no phone to call first, he lives in the senior project apartment building.

6: a 95 year old lady who looks 75 so I wonder why she takes so long to recover every time she gets a cold. She has chronic lung disease and can barely breath and wonders aloud why she is still alive as she reads her holy cards and prays most of the day. Oxygen, nebulizers, inhalers, hospital bed, 16 medications: lives alone..but extended family visits about 7 times a day plus she has an aide provided by the corporation for aging. The food in her refrigerator could feed the whole continent of Africa.

7: 53 year old dying cancer patient..first had lung cancer/he recovered from and then, 2 months after a full recovery finds out he has brain cancer..he lost 40 pounds in 2 months....he misses chemotherapy every other week due to complications of his illness. He is as sweet as sugar and tells me he "feels great" every single visit. He can't walk 20 feet across his first floor without being short of breath.

8: new patient refuses visit after not being home all morning..he was at the store and now he is tired..younger/60's....known to be non compliant and runs to the ER for everything. Patients are supposed to be HOMEBOUND

9: lady bedbound, lives with depressed daughter and grandson who is on house arrest..his own father is in jail for killing his own sister in the grandmother's house. We go to support the daughter but she doesn't let us do much...patient will not get out of bed..the only thing she does for herself is FEED herself. ALL THE TIME.
Hospital bed, oxygen, insulin, glucometer, commode, bedpan, 12 medications, injectable medications, 2 aides to bath her because she is too big for one...and you have to see the aides.

10. Male/89: bilateral amputee (from frost bite), lives alone in senior apartment, new meds, just out of hospital for the second time in 2 weeks, new stroke, new cardiac problems, maximum care needed..family in and out all day plus aides from Philadelphia corporation of aging ...needs help with everything: even has to be fed.

Paperwork includes a note with a full assessment for each patient, a day sheet detailed with times in and out, insurance and medical record numbers for everyone and detailed time devoted to travel and paperwork.., transfer forms (5 pages) for everyone who went into the hospital and discharge forms (3 pages) for each.
every page of multi forms needs the medical record number. Re writing the same information over and over is a requirement.

sometimes I feel like I am on Candid Camera...remember that show?

then...I had to drive 30-45 minutes each way to and from the office to pick up and drop off more papers...

so far my weekend did not start out well...I am so mad right now.

I'd have to be an imbecile to continue to work here...the nursing turnover in our department is constant.

time to look for another job...
and comb my hair.

remember when I recommended Nursing as a profession.
HA!