Ah, gotcha.

Southeast Louisiana Hospital (SELH) in Mandeville. I sat up all night on the ward. With the adults we (4 to 6 of us) dealt with between 20 and 30 patients. On the adolescent ward 2 of us dealt with 4 to 10 patients.

How does one go about getting qualified to commit people?

Seems like a handy ability to have.

One falls into the right job, at the right time.

13 years ago I had no idea such a job existed.

I mean I knew people went to nuthouses and ended up there, and on occasion joked about so-and-so being "certifiable."

Well ... don't ever get complacent about having a nice job with computers that don't talk back at you (much).

I had one of those jobs on a particular Friday morning.

That Friday afternoon, I didn't.

So I went through the whole unemployment thing, but needed more money than they were going to give me ... friend of mine said there was a receptionist job at the hospital where she worked.

"I won't have to deal with any of the patients, will I?"

"Nope, you'll be upstairs. Administration doesn't have anything to do with patients."

That was 12 years ago ...

Turned out that once I started having contact with patients, I kind of liked it, and I was fascinated by what was going on downstairs ... got cross trained to work as a psych tech and started a master's degree in Clinical Psychology within two years of starting there.

Wandered around from dept to dept and job to job a bit, and found my niche in Crisis/Commitment.

Commitment Officer was part of the natural progression up the corporate food chain. And I think it's cool.

Doesn't it feel good to be around your own kind? ;)

Actually it was more of a survival imperative.

You see, I know an awful lot of people who are bugfuck crazy in the community ...

Re: DO YOU SMOKE POT?
 

Not anymore, but as I stated on another thread about smoking weed, from about 1993-1997 I was pretty high damned near everyday. The main problem was that I was still living at home with the 'rents, so I wasn't home that often ('cause I wanted to be high, so off I'd go to my friend's apartment to chill out). Choice of smoking equipment: bong or pipe. Man, I hated joints and blunts. :blunt:

Had to quit it in May 1997, because I had applied for a gubmint job. Funny, it was for the DOD, and they didn't even drug test me...huh! ;)

But that's the problem. You do not feel the effects of it for as long as it is detectable in your system. That's why they can cook up all those bullshit percentages on "X% of people tested positive for pot in fatalities" and what not.

If you smoked a bowl and it kept you high for a month, which is how long it's detectable in blood (the Yahoo article was gone, never got to read it), then that would be a different story. But to say you're still affected by it a month afterwards? Nah. Maybe, maybe you've got a slight fog for a few days, a week if you get really really baked. But it's not to the effect of imparing your ability. Imparing motivation? Possibly.

The problem with people saying it's prevents motivation, is that people exepct others to do what they think they should. They want everyone to be "normal". Go to work. Have a family. Have someone you love. Whatever. It's this stereotype of what is "normal" that's the whole problem.

If I have enough money to take care of myself, or, can find a way to get enough money (since money makes the world go around) to keep myself from being dependant on you or the state, who fucking cares if I'm motivated enough to go climb mountains or jog or volunteer for the comunity on my weekends or week days?

If I want to sit around baked, enjoying the feeling of it. Watching the world go by, that should be my choice. It's not different than if you go out and "enjoy nature". You sit and stare at birds building a nest, and call it a "bird watching hobby". That's good. That's "valid". People can give you the big social OK.

But if I want to sit around baked and watch birds build a nest, then I'm a unmotivated loser.

Quzah.

No, but the government is spending I believe $3million during the same Super Bowl to tell you not to smoke weed.

Quzah.

And the current president is an alcoholic.

Quzah.

Get them all stoned. You won't have to deal with anything other than handing out snacks.

Quzah.

Unless you have a fishing pole nearby. You don't even have to hold it, to be socially acceptable.
Seriously though, I agree 100%. If I'm not affecting you, mind your own business.

I guess it's something of a dilemma.

One, if your goals are so low then more, or less, power to you, but to me I think that people, with their greater abilities should strive for more. Any monkey can sit around and respire and metabolize, but it takes a little work to rap your mind around the workings of the universe. An obligation to one's self, so to speak.

And, two, I think that everyone has an obligation to the species at large. It's strange, it seems that only humanity has useless members.

Now that being said, I'll hand you an example that you missed out on when trying to convince me of the comparatave successes of certain, known smokers. Carl Sagan.

And you determine what my obligation to myself is? Strange.
Absolutely untrue. There are plenty of animals that contribute nothing to the good of the pack/herd/troop. But more than that, what gives you the right to set goals for me? Why am I obligated to be useful to you? You sound like one of those team player/rah rah types that corporations love to hire. The type that came up with the term associates for employees.

Yeah. All I can say is that I agree wholeheartedly with you on this. It's not much, but it had to be said.

Sidhe

One of the first things that people assume when I make statements like that is that they are absolutes. I know that they are not.

Another is that there is a difference between standards and rules.

And, in addition, I am most decidedly NOT a team player. I only expect myself to come close to my standards. I got tired of being disappointed in people.