Living with GGS

Yes, yes, I know.  It's been more than a week, but what a week I've had!  This may be a long post.

We've all seen the movie 'Grease' right?  It's one of those classic and timeless movies that people love!  Well, remember in the beginning of the movie when Sandy was classified as a 'good girl' because of the way she dressed, acted, etc?   

It's called GGS (Good Girl Syndrome).  Many people think that it is curable because of the TV shows which often show girls with GGS being cured with drugs, sex or drinking.  You know, 'experiencing' the world.  Sandy was one of those girls who was 'cured' at the end of her high-school year.

Me?  I have a terminal case of GGS.  I am 22 years old and I live with my parents, I'm a virgin, I don't do drugs, I don't drink, I don't smoke and I dress modestly.  I also have a very happy personality.  I'm pretty sure when I smile, you see a glimmer and then hear a 'ding!'

Living with GGS is extremely challenging.  It takes a toll on you mentally, physically and emotionally. Not the disease itself, but the way people treat you when they know you have it.  God forbid they ever catch it.

I never knew I had it until I started working at the tender age of 17.  People would avoid me, make fun of me, talk about me, etc.  I knew something was up.  How could they know something was up and I didn't??  I headed straight to the Medicine Mom.  She asked me a few questions, like:

• Are you always nice to your co-workers?  Yes.
• Do you complain constantly about your job and explain why you hate it?  No.
• Do you find the bright side of everything?  Yes.
• Do you always find something nice to say, even when the situation is bad?  Yes.
• Are you usually in a good mood?  Double yes.

Once I was diagnosed, everything made sense.  I understood why I got the weird looks when I declined the invitation to go and 'get wasted', why they would roll their eyes when I came into work with a cute bow in my ponytail and why they kept using the term 'sheltered' all the time.  You'd think I was an orphaned puppy or something with all that 'sheltered' being thrown around!  It all made sense.

So once I finally understood, I tried to make people comfortable when they were around me.  They would apologize for saying "FFFFFFFF*************!!!!" when the printer didn't work and I was in the room.  But I would just say, 'Don't worry about it!  It is a major bummer though!'  By the end of the shift there were F bombs, S bombs and all sorts of alphabet-bombs exploding left and right and then there was me saying, "Aw! Stinkers!" or "That stupid-head machine!"

Finally, people started to just be them and just tune me and my GGS out.  But then, it started to take a turn for the worse.  People started taking advantage of me and my GGS.  They need a shift off, I come to the rescue and cover without a second thought.  But when I need a shift covered, forget it loser.  They have a bad day and need someone to listen or to talk about something else, here I am.  I have a bad day and it's, "What the h*** is wrong with you?  Suck it up!"  They make a mistake and need a bailout, I'll take the blame.  I make a mistake and it's, "SSHHHHEEE DID IT!!!  IT WAS HER!  ALL HER!"  People do their research.  They figure out that my GGS is incurable and know I can't say anything mean or call them out, so therefore, I am the doormat with a sunny smiley face on it.

But there are also people who try to cure me.  You know, that have given me 'the speech'.  The typical, "You need to get out and enjoy life.  You're too young not to experience the wonders of the world!  I think you've been sheltered all your life and now that you are old enough, you can make your own decisions!"  There's that 'sheltered' again!  And please explain to me what you mean by 'experiencing the wonders of the world' and 'enjoy life'.  Do you mean the 'wonders' of sleeping with 4 different men and then 'enjoying' all the doctor visits and meds after I get Herpes?  Or do you mean 'experiencing the wonders' of getting drunk and 'enjoying' staring at my reflection in the toilet water the rest of the night?  Do tell.  >insert crickets here<

I get so sick of people telling me that there is cure for my GGS and thinking they will be the one to discover the cure.  Or taking advantage of me and my GGS.  Most people pick and choose what they like about the GGS.  They like getting flowers from me, just because, but they get jealous that patients would rather talk to my friendly and smiling face rather than their angry one who is screaming, "The F****** S***** M*****f****** printer won't f****** work!!!!!"  

In all seriousness though, God gave me the most wonderful parents who taught me how to develop  and handle my GGS in the world.  And when I think I can't smile anymore, God always finds something to remind me that I have a lot to smile about.

Like, when people say certain phrases, I hear completely different ones.

Good Girl = A respectable woman who has standards and beliefs

Lucky #7

Today was a good day.  Not too crazy, but not to slow.  And the attitudes in the office were great.  That is a rare thing.  So when it's there, I take it all in for as long as I can.

Since there really isn't anything to tell you about my day, I'm going to tell you about the types of patients we get.

#1.  The Eeyore.

This type of patient has nothing good to say.  "How are you today??" "Eh.  Couldn't get worse I guess." Ok then.  They are the types that complain about how you do your job, how the Dr. does her job and how awful of a life they have.  Their fish died, their milk went bad, the toilet clogged, then their allergies acted up today.

#2. The Rabbit.

The Rabbit is a name I made up for people who are ALWAYS late.  They call or text (yes, our office texts patients) and ask for an appointment, I put it in, they show up an hour late, without an apology.  Hey, they'll be here when they get here.

#3. The Houdini.

Houdini will appear one moment and disappear another.  These types of patients will come in for awhile, fall off the face of the earth, then come back again.  Abra-cadabra.

#4. The English Professor.

I love these types.  They point out everything that is misspelled in the office.  From the ticker on our televisions, to the website to the fine print on our mazagines.  Oops, I mean M-A-G-A-Z-I-N-E-S.



#5. The Gabbers.

I love to talk.  I know I don't seem that way, but I do.  However, I do know when to stop.  And as much as I would like to hear your story about how your last meal didn't sit well with you, I really do have to get back to my job.

#6. The Cell-Phone Addicts.

Really?  You can't put the phone down for 2 seconds to make your next appointment??  Even I get through a whole work shift without my phone!  These types talk on their cellphones loudly in the waiting room, tell me to wait when I go in, so they can finish their text and have even told the Dr. to "come back in a few minutes."  That goes over well.  My favorite is when they don't use words, just their hands.  Like shhh or could you give me minute please...geez.  Love. it.

#7.  The Perfects.

Now these are, unfortunately, hard to find types.  These patients, keep their appointments, pay their bill on time, call if they're going to be late or need to cancel and always thank you for what you do.  If only we had more of these types.

Now, I'm not complaining about these types, I'm just saying they could be better.  I'm just speakin' the truth.  But yes, I would much rather hear about your grandchild's first day of Kindergarten rather than how you stepped in dog poop.


Or that you were late because of traffic rather than the fact you just decided to sleep in.  Or that you keep your appointments.  More than once a year.  The spelling in the magazine?  Just don't.

Oh and we've implemented a new policy:

Bad day and true friends

Yes.  Today was a bad day.  Let me take you through my horribly awful day...

1.  To start, it was raining, so I called a cab.  I waited about 20 minutes and finally decided to call them back to say, "Where the heck are you!??" Their reply? "Oh, when did you call?  I thought somebody already got you."  Nope.  Nobody came to get me.  I'm sitting on my steps.  Waiting.  Another 20 minutes goes by and FINALLY I see the bright yellow car coming my way.  I am now 20 minutes late for work.
2.  The office printer went down and it was left to me to fix it.  I couldn't at first, so we called our IT guy.  He texted us back: "I quit. Find another tech person."  Sure thing, thanks for nothing.
3. The boss was in a very picky and easily annoyed mood.
Boss: "Where is that ______ paper!??"
Me: "Right here!" *In my hand*
Boss: "_______ YOU CAN'T SEPARATE IT FROM THE FILE!"
Me: "I didn't!  I had the file at arms length!"
Boss: "Well you can't do that!!"
Okie dokie grumpachokie.
4. We weren't that busy, so everything was micro-managed to the extreme.

On the bright side, we did end up fixing the printer, the boss sort of got over it and the day ended on a good note.  But still.  I wouldn't want to repeat today.

Now onto the true friends part of my post.  So, we all have friends.  Good friends, bad friends, annoying friends, weird friends, friends that hurt you, etc.  We've all had our share of these types of friends.  Well, me and the Sister, unfortunately know all too well about the friends that hurt and the mean friends.  We've dealt with them most of our life.  I'm not really sure why we were selected to get these types of friends, but we were.  We are like freak magnets.  We were usually the second choice.  Most of my childhood, I wasn't popular when I was in school, I'd buddy up to someone, only to be let down or made fun of.  But I had parents who helped me understand that it wasn't me, it was them.  So I continued to buddy up, give my all and BOOM, I would let these friends hurt me.  I was used to it.  At one point, one friend really hurt me.  I sort of closed off after that.  I'm much better now, but it takes something amazing for me to trust you.  Anywho, I was blessed with one friend who was and is my Best Friend.  She never made fun of me and we got along very well.  We've had our ups and downs, like in any relationship, but we always made it through like it never happened.  We are still best friends today.  We live quite aways apart now, but we see each other occasionally and use social media and stuff.  She is a true friend and we have a bond that not many people get in their lifetime.  But I also have quite a few super awesome close friends who are amazing and I love them.  So in a way, all those other so called friends that I've had, sort of led the way to these amazing people I've learned to love and respect.  So thank you to all of you who called me anorexic, skinny, ugly, goody-two-shoes and whatever else.  Without you, I would have never known what true friends were.

Now The Sister.  She is 9 years younger than me.  She is still in search for her true friend.  She has a couple of super awesome friends, but none that have the 'true bond'.  Not yet anyway.  She has definitely had her share of more than enough bad friends.  She's been left at the door, ditched, made fun of, been called names (like stupid once...ya, be glad I wasn't home) and been un-invited to functions.  The whole she-bang.  I've seen her cry and get mad too many times over this.  I think my favorite one was the time a few years ago, she mentioned to this so-called friend, that she really wanted to do gymnastics, but we couldn't afford classes at the time and literally the next week, the friend signed up for classes and came over to rub it in with her new 'team' friends.  I'm pretty sure my mouth filled with blood, because I was biting my tongue so hard.   Really??  You never ever mentioned gymnastics the whole time you've known The Sister and the one time The Sister mentions it, you're suddenly head over heels for it??  Why can't you just be a good friend and do cartwheels in the backyard with her???

 I pray very, very hard that she will one day meet that one girl who she will share everything with.  Who will never make her cry, but will always make her laugh until she can't breathe.  Someone she can swoon over boys with, but always remind her to keep her standards.  And someone who will remind her in tough times that God is there for her and so is she.  I pray very, very hard.  Almost every night.  But, that hasn't happened yet.

So anyone interested in creating a true bond with The Sister, you will need to know:
1. She is very pretty, but doesn't think so.
2. She is a give all type of friend.  She will take your midnight calls, when you need to talk.  And be there for you when you're sad or lonely.
3. She is the funniest person you will ever meet.  No sarcasm.  For the most part.
4. She loves animals and always puts other people or creatures before herself.
5. She is incredibly talented and smart.
6. She will be the best friend you will ever have.

And if anyone tries to hurt her, ditch her or make fun of her, you will deal with me.  And when it comes to my family, you'd be better off dealing with satan himself.

Did you miss me?

Ya, I haven't posted in 2 days.  I've been busy!  At least I have some stories!!

So firsts things first...The Sister, got a haircut (by salon) and her first dye job (by me).  And no it wasn't brown, red or blonde.  It was blue, purple and pink.  No, I'm not kidding.  We always knew The Sister would be her own person from the very beginning.  She was colicky for 6 months straight.  So we knew she was a tough one.  The teenage years are here.  I told her that before she starts school (she is home-schooled by my mom) she should get a real haircut.  Meaning, no more just straight off the bottom, I meant layers and all that good stuff.  Then...she mentioned about color.  At first it was going to be 2 colored streaks underneath her hair, like peek-a-boo streaks.  Then it kind of snowballed into 6 streaks all over her head.  So she now has colored hair.  Still brown, but in the sun...HELLO!  Mom was surprisingly ok with it.  I went through a color phase and none of them ended well.  So that's why I did The Sister's myself.  It came out pretty good and she loves it.

Next, I have some patient stories.  Where should I start??  Oh, ok.  Here's one.  So, we're a pretty busy

office, patients sometimes wait up to an hour to see the Dr.  So, they will complain and complain about the waiting.  Part of my job is to #1 keep them happy and #2 get them in a room as fast as possible.  After the patients wait and complain, I will call them into a room and ask if they will be doing any sort of therapy before the Dr. comes in to see them.  They say yes, so I go and get what I need to start.  Then, they get all set up and I'm about to hook them up when..."I'm sorry, I have to go to the bathroom."  I unhook them, they get up and go to the restroom.  Really, people?  Really??  You just waited an hour and you couldn't have gone then??  Please don't say you're a surgeon!  You would be baffled at how many times this happens, it's kind of ridiculous.  But, I can't say, "Well, hold it until you're done!"  Nope.  I have to say, with a full smile in tact, "Of course!!!!!  Go right ahead!!!  Let me just take the pack off!!  And the pads!!!  And help you off the table!!  Sure, go right ahead, I'll be here waiting for you!!"  People.  You're adults.  Control your bladder.

Then there are the other interesting questions and quotes, like these:

"Do I have to lay down?  I will ruin my eyelash extensions if I do." Well, we wouldn't want that, would we??

"Can I have the therapy on my head??" Um, no.

"Hello? Oh, hi Jodi!  No, no I have time to talk!" *waves me off* "Oh, really??  You're kidding!  Oh, no, I'm just at the doctors." Are ya serious right now??

"Do I have to fill this out?"  Your medical history form? Yes.  Unless you want to die, because we put you on electric stimulation therapy and you have metal pins in your back.

"Darn it!  Hold on one second, my brand new boobs are making this very difficult for me to lay down."  Sure.  I'll just wait for you...and your 'new boobs'.

Last, but not least.  FREE STUFF!  I love free stuff!  Don't you!?  Did you know you could get free stuff in regular retail stores??  Well, boy do I know!  I go to this website called Hip2Save.com and she (Collin) is a fantastic couponer!  She posts both online and in-store deals!  It cra-zay! 

So this weekend, I got:

A ream of copy paper

2 spiral notebooks

A mini whiteboard and marker

Perfume

Headbands

All for FREE!  Didn't pay a cent for any thing.  You should try it.  It's fun.  And addicting.  But who cares?  You're getting it for free!  If someone told me one year ago that I would be getting feminine products, razors, perfume, make-up, food, gifts, school supplies and clothes for free, I would have laughed in their face.  You need to check her site out!  It really is amazing what you can get for free when you know what you're doing.  One time, I got this super amazing free item...are you ready?  Are you sitting down?  Comfortable?

Too bad.  I have to go to the bathroom.

Filing, paper-cuts and roaches...OH MY!

Remember when I said in my About Me page, that one of my jobs included cockroaches?  Well...I went to that job today.

This job requires a basement, a back room and lots of filing.  I work for someone who owns a store in a basement.  Which in turn means...those...things.

It's pretty gross.  And I'm not sure if you know this, but I'm not a bug person.  At all.  I'm more of a screaming and running away person.  I also really hate moths.  I've always had this phobia that if there was a moth in my room at night, and I fell asleep, it would crawl up my nose and lay eggs in my sinuses.  Don't laugh!  It's a legit fear!!  I don't know about you, but I don't want baby moths flying out of my nose!!

Luckily, today I didn't see any (roaches or moths).  Which is awesome.

I didn't do this, but I would if it came down to it.

Anywho, I went to work and did my filing.  But you know what I hate about this filing job??  The boss NEVER opens his envelopes.  Ever.  So I have to open them all up to find out what year they're from.  So that leads to many paper-cuts.  I'm pretty sure the DD girl thought I had home problems or something.  And believe me, the envelopes aren't all from this year.  2004, actually.  That's the earliest envelope I've opened.  Ya, the filing system is that bad.  But I've been there for about 2 months, so it's gotten at least 50% better!  I'm sort of a perfectionist.  Don't know where I get it from... ahem...mom.

Hopefully, this weekend I will have some stories to tell.

"Daaaaaaaaaaaad! There's a moth in my rooooooom!  Come kill it!"

My fortune has been told

Alright, so you know that one of my jobs includes patients, so today I have a very interesting patient tale to tell.

We have a patient who is a psychic.

Now I'm not into that sort of thing, but it was very funny to hear what she had to say about my possible future.  Here is our conversation:

Patient: "So, are you in school?"
Me: "No, I just work here full-time."
Patient: "Hm, because for some reason I'm getting a school ora around you."
Me: "Really??  I'm not sure why."
Patient: "Well, maybe it is just as simple as something new you had to learn, over the last few weeks.  Or maybe you're thinking about it."
Me: "Mmmmhmmm...Maybe..."
*Silence*
Patient: "Do you have a boyfriend?"
Me: "Nope, just me!"
Patient: "How is that possible?"
Me: "I just haven't met the right guy, I guess."
Patient: "Are you meeting people though?"
Me: "Of course I am!"
Patient: "Ok, just asking.  Because I'm getting a sense of invisibility from your energy.  Meaning, you're shy and don't like to talk to people a lot."
Thinking, *Ok, well, I'm talking to you aren't I????  And this is by far the weirdest conversation I've ever had.  And yet, I'm still here.*
*Silence*
Patient: "I'm getting the feeling you're going to meet someone in March.  Yes, March.  He will be quite tall and have lighter hair."
Me: "Hm, that's interesting.  I will keep a look out!"
*Silence*
Patient: "So who invited you on a cruise?"
Me: "Uuuh...no one." *I am NOT a plane or boat person.  So if I was invited, I would not go.  Just in case anyone wanted to invite me."
Patient: "Oh, well it looks like someone is going to invite you on one in December, January or February.  It's a blonde girl."
Me: "Hmm, who could that be??  Because all of my friends are brunette."
Patient: "She kind of looks like P---- (office manager) or maybe her daughter, does she have a daughter?"
Me: "Yes, but she lives in _________"
Patient: "Well, somebody blonde will invite you.  She likes to ski too."
Me: "Likes to ski??  Nobody I know likes to ski...this is very interesting." *By now, I know she is just trying impress me or something.  Too bad she is waaaay off.*
Patient: "Yep, so you are going to have a busy few months!"
Me: "Apparently."

So now I'm going to have to look out for a school application that will magically be waiting for me, a blonde girl who likes to ski and a guy who is tall and has light hair.  Well, that narrows it down.

Pumpkin coffee and '42'

So today was a very long work day.  8:30am until 6:45pm (that's ten hours and fifteen minutes if you were wondering)  It went alright, there were a few...uh...'moments' that weren't the greatest, but they were over quickly, so that was good.  But you know what just made my day SO GOOD???

Dunkin Donut's Pumpkin Iced Coffee, cream and extra sugar.

Yep, every time I took a sip today it was like an orange, pumpkiny party in my mouth.  It also kept me awake.  There is a DD's right across from work so before I go in, I stop by and get myself either a sweet tea (usually in the summer) or an iced coffee.  Today was kind of a brisk one, so I thought a pumpkin coffee would be the best choice.  So, you should know that I don't like hot coffee, don't ask me why, I just don't.  Iced all the way, even in the winter.  And the girl that works there, K., knows exactly how I like it, I don't even have to order!  Sipping my fantastically made coffee, made the day new again, with every sip.  That should totally be the campaign slogan...you're welcome Dunkin Donuts.  

So after work, my family rented the movie '42' (it's about Jackie Robinson, the first black major league baseball player)  I've seen it before and loved it, so I made everyone else watch it too.  They loved it also.  But it breaks my heart knowing that racism was (and in some places still is) so horrible.  The things said to another human being were just plain ugly and cruel.  How dare you think that you are higher than another human just because of your skin color.  If you peeled away your skin, you couldn't tell the difference.  Maybe if we were all an undead race, things would be different.  I mean a skeleton is a skeleton, right??

I'm so glad that I had the privilege of growing up with parents who looked at actions, not color.  And also knowing that God made every single person in HIS image.  He loves every single person He ever created.  And it's funny...I don't think He gave His creations, labels.  Ya know, like He had a filing cabinet with drawers labeled, 'Black Humans', 'White Humans', 'Hispanic Humans', etc.  He didn't just say, "Hmmm...I think I'm going to create a black person today."  Are we sure that Adam and Eve were even white??  Because unless you know someone that took a selfie-shot with them, I don't think we will ever know for sure.  Maybe they were purple.  But who cares, because God does know what He's doing.

But I must say, if we were skeletons, things would be different.  But kinda gross.