At the nurse's station desk.
Urology resident on the phone: "the 'testicle' is coming make sure you get all the bloodwork by tonight.
It took time to realize he was talking about about a new patient coming for testicular surgery.
How random.
Showing posts with label Overheard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Overheard. Show all posts
Friday, March 26, 2010
Cruel Discussion and Modern Medicine
Overheard at the OPD Pediatrics Clinic between physician and a patient's mother.
Mother: What can we do Dr. N?
Dr. N: There is a new and effective drug for what your son has. But it's too expensive. Neither you nor I can afford it.
Mother: So what's the solution?
Dr. N: ..........................................
P.S. I will elaborate on the case soon.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Cab Ride of the Year... In the Hamra Traffic
Over heard or made to hear...
On the way to pick up my car from the workshop where it had been for some maintenance...
Cab driver picks up phone, dials a number, and puts it to his ear. The short of a one and a half minute conversation: "Eh hayete yalla khallaset liom, jeye 3al beit la nodhar ma3 el wled" Translation "Hello honey I'm almost done for the day. I'll be home soon and we can take the kids out."
Cab driver hangs up.
*5 seconds pass*
Cab driver picks up phone, dials [what is obviously] a different number, and puts it to his ear. The short of a 3-minute conversation: "Eh hayete. Layke ma rah e2dar shoufik liom mdahhar marte w wlede. Wlek *Interrupted* Wlek shou bou rasik ma 3am tefhame ya mara?!! Ana ma3 marte ou3a tehkine ente. ANA behkike shou fhemte>!!>? Bshoufik boukra khalas boukra fhame ba2a!!"
Translation "Hello honey. Listen I can't see you today, I have to take out the wife and kids. I hav...*interrupted*... I ... What the hell is wrong with you woman?? Can't you understand?? I'm with my wife and kids tonight. Whatever you do don't call me. I will call YOU, understand!!? I'll see you tomorrow!"
Cab driver hangs up, looks at me with an arrogant smile, and says "Kif baddak tlahhi2 neswen? kif? Wehde w tnen w tlete, w ba3dein??
Translation "How can I keep up with the women? how? One, two, three women, and then what??
Help me decide whether this is funny, or outrageous, disgusting, and sleazy.
I could not believe my ears.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Cinema Paradiso, a Blast from the Past
There is nothing better than that feeling you get when you come across something from the past. I don't know, I guess this may be the appeal, the incentive, or maybe the lure, that makes people dwell in it so often, and sometimes indefinitely. Ranging from that once-in-a-while sweet, harmless nostalgia to downright pathological, disabling failure to progress, this feeling of familiarity and comfort found in one's past is probably, and to my experience, the reason why so many people struggle or fail to move on to new pastures.
The other day I tagged along with M. for a short DVD shopping trip. We were both flipping
through the monumental stacks of DVDs, and were ready to go home, nothing of note having been caught in our respective nets, when I heard the clerk making a recommendation to a girl (and a nice looking one at that!). I overheard: "you should try Cinema Paradiso..."
Instant flashback to 1990. I was eight years old, and we had just moved to a new place in Beirut. A brand new TV set, a brand new VCR and a nice VHS to christen it with.
Cinema Paradiso, an award-winning film by Italian filmmaker
Giuseppe Tornatore. I remember it so vividly; it was late, one of the first quiet nights in the post civil war era. The living room engrossed in the somber yet elucidating light provided by a solitary candle placed on top of a run down coffee table, I waited, anxiously observing the clock's every move, in anticipation because at midnight, we get to enjoy the luxury of electricity again.
I fell asleep on the couch, to be woken up at midnight by my mother, who was just as anxious as I was to watch that new movie.
Perhaps ironically, the theme of the movie circles around letting go of one's roots, of one's past and all that it entails, as it so powerfully follows the life of Salvatore di Vita, affectionately called Toto, as he morphs from that 5 year-old kid with so little on his mind, through a hormone-laden teenager, and into a grown man with aspirations to a career and success.
Always the sucker for blasts from the past, I jumped on that thing like there was no tomorrow; I drove back home in a daze, and the mere sound of the two words "Cinema Paradiso" brought my mom to tears. To say that watching this movie 20 years down this long road was an emotional experience would be a masterpiece of understatement. So many powerful scenes, and a theme and topic that remind me so poignantly of my own childhood, my own journey through life, proved to be nearly too much to handle. I guess that my having been through the experience of leaving home and loved ones behind meant that I identified with Toto in the movie.
Ironically, a movie riddled with nostalgia, departures, and separation from the past, has reunited me with mine in a way my clumsy words will never be able to describe.
Why so afraid of the past?
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
