What if?

After a long day at work I went to the grocery store.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  As I pulled in I overheard a domestic dispute.  The lady in the car was yelling at the man in the car to "get out of my car", "stop it", etc.  I couldn't tell what was going on but I could see the woman hitting the man.

Thinking this was only an argument initially I thought nothing of it.  As I walked to the store entrance I got to thinking "What if?".  What if he was doing something to her? What if this was the start of a date rape, etc? What if?  I didn't know.  Because of the situation I didn't want to be the guy that could've stopped it but didn't do anything.  A simple phone call could stop a potentially dangerous situation.

I decided to call the police when I was out of their sight (I parked next to them and my car is pretty easy to point out. I also wanted to remain anonymous).  I gave them all the information I could and the police informed me they would check into it.

I finished shopping and less than 10 minutes later went back to my car.  Four police cruisers had responded.  The lady was arguing with one of the officers stating she was just having an argument with her boyfriend and they argue all the time.  The officer was handling it like a champ.

Though this may have been an over-reaction to the situation after the facts were known, what if?

I'll take a moment here to thank all the officers who respond to calls like this, potentially putting their lives on the line. They never know what they are walking into but they do it every time they respond to a call.  They are underappreciated in our time and we don't have nearly enough of them to help. 

Thank you, officers, for everything you do.

The Babysitter review (no spoilers that I know of)

I've seen a few of the Netflix original movies now and I gotta say they are getting entertaining.  Tonight I watched The Babysitter.  If you have time you should also watch Little Evil (a recently married man thinks his new stepson is the Devil incarnate) and Death Note (not the Anime version.  The detectives in the Anime version speculate a lot and somehow their thinking is spot on, similar to Adam West as Batman deciphering a "cryptic message" from the Riddler in the Batman Movie 1966, but not nearly as entertaining as Batman).

The Babysitter

This movie is about a nervous, naive 12 year old boy whose babysitter is hot.  Everyone picks on him except his babysitter. She is supportive of his intelligence and "weirdness". 

Google Samara Weaving, you'll thank me (yes its totally SFW)

His parents go away on "business trip", leaving the babysitter in charge while they are out for the weekend.  His best friend (who happens to be a girl his same age) convinces him that all adults, including his babysitter, have sex when kids are sleeping.  She convinces him to stay awake to spy on his babysitter to prove she is right.

As I said earlier, this is actually an entertaining slasher flick.  It's predictable to an extent but it is still very entertaining.  If you like slasher flicks, watch it.  Also watch (as I said in the intro) Little Evil and the Death Note (again, not the Anime version).

Sweet, Sweet Karma

I usually vent about work here but this time I'm telling a story about sweet Karma.  I'm changing the names (for obvious reasons).

A few days ago I was assigned to be float nurse and to give lunch breaks.  I took an ambulance report, a 20 year old male patient who had a seizure.  I receive word he is being non-compliant so the EMTs administered 5mg of versed to help him calm down.

On arrival to the room I see George accompanied by his mother and father figure (no clue if it's his dad, where I live it's not unusual to have a large age gap between husband and wife).  During triage I recognized him but unable to figure out where from.  I ask George if he wanted help.  He only agreed to let me get vital signs on him.  As I attempted to get a temperature, his charming personality shone through and he became combative.

After a few short minutes of George verbally abusing everyone in the room I make sure he is oriented.  When he shows he is mentally competent I asked if he wanted treatment.  To my surprise he refused.  

George's mother then spoke up and demanded we treat him.  I explain to the mother that George is an adult and we cannot force treatment on him.  She continued to demand that we treat him so I explain a second time that it's against the law to give treatment to anyone who refuses. I then explain the only way we can treat someone who refuses is if they lacked capacity to make his own decisions.  She then asked if we could at least medicate George, I explained I would have to speak to the doctor.  

Mother then went off on me.  She claimed she did not like my answers and I could have worded them differently.  She continued stating we need to try something and she did not like that I wasn't going to do anything.  I apologized that we couldn't do anything to help but reiterated he had refused. 

As I stepped out of the room she asked to have another nurse take care of them.  Ignoring that statement I explained the situation to the doctor, the refusal and the other behaviors that happened.  He informed me he would return to the room and talk to George and his family.

As I started documenting on the conversation I was able to place where I knew George.  Several years ago I took care of him. At 16 he was a healthy young male with no medical history.  He suffered a seizure without any reason.  George came to the ER and I took care of him.  He had a wonderful personality, refused treatment and treated everyone like crap.  His mother was even a victim of his verbal abuse.  

After several hours of refusing treatment and verbally abusing everyone George was told if he could walk around the room without having any problems he would be able to leave.  Unfortunately for him shortly after he stood up he had a grand maul seizure.  I helped him to the floor and my coworker did abdominal thrusts (he had a mouthful of crackers).

George's mother finally stepped into her role as a mother and played the trump card, "I'm mom, you're the minor, you're getting treatment."  She apologized multiple times for his behavior and thanked us for helping as much as we did.  He was transferred out and never thought about him again.

So four years and George's charming personality hasn't really changed.  Shocker.

The verbal abuse in the room continues, George's mom calls the attending doctor an asshole, security is called to have them escorted out of the ER.  When security gets there George's family refuses to leave and demand that we treat George.  The security guard explains to them that he has to defer to the charge nurse to figure out what to do since they didn't want to leave.

Again, I am the float nurse relieving lunches.  The charge nurse has stepped out for her lunch break leaving me in charge.  Pointing out again they treated me like crap and did not like the way I treated them and the way I explained things to them.

The security guard asks who is in charge, I tell them it's me.  When I walk into the room the George's mom, wide eyed, says "Oh, you're in charge?"

The look on her face and her reaction were priceless.  I wish I could see it again, over and over.    

To finish the story, George and his family left without George getting any treatment.  I did notice that he no longer had a mouth full of teeth like he did when he was 16, his lovely personality must have helped him lose a few over the years.

Little Shop of Horrors

Such a cute little thing, I want one.

I remember seeing Little Shop of horrors when I was a kid.  I remember laughing along with the music, the antics of Audrey 2, etc.  As an adult I've come to a few realizations after watching the movie.  It's even better now, especially with these realizations.  I say watch it again, at the time of this posting it's on Hulu.

First realization:  Dr. Orin Scrivello DDS has a great song.  His tenacity for causing pain as a kid is what led him to be a dentist.  And we all know what it's like to visit the dentist.  Let's not forget that everything he does is modeled after The King (that would be Elvis, not Henry).

When I was young and just a bad little kid

My momma noticed funny things I did

Like shootin puppies with a BB gun

I'd poison guppies, and when I was done

I'd find a pussy cat and bash it's head

That's when my momma said

(What did she say?)

She said "My boy, I think someday

You'll find a way to make your natural tendencies pay"

"You'll be a dentist

(Be a dentist)

You have a talent for causing things pain

(Pain)

Son, be a dentist

(Son be a dentist)

People will pay you to be inhumane

(Inhumane)"

Second realization:  Bill Murray makes a cameo.  I completely forgot about this.  This is definitely a great appearance.  Arthur Denton must be masochistic because he is truly enjoying his time with Dr. Orin Scrivello and even embraces the good doctor during a root canal.

He prepped himself and everything while Doc was walking around

Third realization (and last) is the scene after you learn of Audrey 2's plant food.  Spoiler: it's blood.  Then this scene while he's at the radio station attempting to promote the store and the plant:

Shortly after he tries to bite her

When I saw this as a kid I didn't make the connection of what was going on.  I thought he saw a pretty girl and wanted Seymour to make a move.  If you watch the movie, you'll notice shortly before this scene Audrey 2 could smell the blood off Seymour's finger and tried to bite it.  As I watched just now I noticed the subtle sniffing from the plant right after the girl stands in front of it.  I think she might be menstruating.

It Follows Movie Review

I have a tendency to enjoy watching horror movies after my wife goes to sleep (she doesn't like horror movies, I bought myself wireless headphones so I can hear the TV and she can't).  Sometimes I watch something horrible and other times I find something amusing.  This time I found something amusing with a not so subtle message.  I know there are other websites for movie reviews but I want to do it here, so here goes (spoilers ahead).

It Follows

It Follows is about a 19-year-old girl named Jay who, after a sexual encounter, finds herself being stalked by a supernatural entity.  This entity will stop at nothing to get to her after it is "passed" to her by her boyfriend (ex-boyfriend after the incident).  The ex-boyfriend did her a solid and explained what was going to happen to her now that she has this supernatural stalker.

He's not that bad, only used chloroform after consensual sex to tie her up.

The stand up guy explains that the stalker, who can only be seen by anyone who has received this curse and the only way to get rid of the target on her back is to have sex with someone else and "pass it on".  It never fully finishes with the person who passes it on and it will kill her if it catches her (great guy, giving her a death sentence so he doesn't have to die).

Oh, the supernatural being can look like anyone, anytime. Grandma while she is at school

She becomes paranoid after realizing the entity is out to get her and won't stop.  Her friends eventually believe her and one of her guy friends, Greg, admits to having "feelings" for her.  After he realizes Jay will die because of this entity he has sex with her so she can be safe (he dies a little later, at least he was a "hero").

Jay then has sex with some random people at a lake so she can get rid of the curse (does this make her a serial killer, knowing this supernatural being will kill people?).  She realizes this doesn't work because the ghost stalker is back shortly after.

A plan is derived to kill the ghost (because that makes sense) and it appears they succeed and they go home happier.  The other boy in the group confesses his love for Kelly, they hook up and live happily ever after (until the camera pans out and you see the ghost stalker following them still).

Blood in the water after killing the ghost stalker, cause ghosts can bleed.

My Take

So this is a not so subtle jab at STDs.  Just from the Netflix description of this movie "Jay learns that her date has passed on a lethal curse that can only be shed by sleeping with another unsuspecting partner" you can see she contracted something by sleeping with someone.  And, once again, you sleep with someone to pass the curse (STD) to someone else while never fully getting rid of it yourself.

If you want to scare your kids into not having sex, show them this movie and explain this is what happens when you have unprotected sex.  Or you can show them a pic of genital herpes (or any other STD).  I'm going to let you google your own pics of that one (you'll thank me for not putting it here, your own fault if you search the images).

This movie was entertaining enough.  It gave me a couple of jumps, even if it was mostly predictable.  Worth a watch at least once.