Appointment Book, 1994

So today’s item is a day calendar from 1994.

Nineteen ninety-four is the year I moved back to California in pursuit of the movie business, more or less.

Let’s see what we find!

Here’s my name in some other language, I think got from a coworker from Los Alamitos Medical Center.

MEO NOME E JUSSEFE

The State of California would only give me a temporary license to practice Resspiratory Therapy at the time. Jerks. I had all my paperwork, and the temporary was equivalent to having the license, just the printed official “card” had not arrived. Unfortunately this temporary license was not good enough to get me a job; despite being window dressing on my actual credential, a Registered Respiratory Therapist from the NBRC (National Board for Respiratory Care). Most hospitals said “we’ll hire you the second you get your real license.” Of course, the temporary was the State of CA’s way of saying, “it’s on the way,” but for some reason nobody wanted to hire me until that came through. I think Los Alamitos actually hired me without it, but it’s sort of lost in my memory now.

Okay, what else is in this calendar?

Well, it contains all my night shifts. The pattern was typically(starting on a monday) 2 on, 2 off, 3on , 2off,2on, 3off. Each “on” was a 12 hour night shift: 7p to 7a. These are denoted with “NN” — then there are some (rare) 8 hour nights in there as well. a “N” was an 8 hour night starting at 11pm. so, 11a to 7a. Then a 19N is 7pm to 3am. The 19 is for “19:00” obviously.

I always liked the night shift. I can see how it would be difficult for someone with a wife and kids, but for a single guy it was perfect. I liked nights a lot. One of my favorite things was going out for breakfast after work. There was a place in Charlottesville that made great breakfast and served beer too. After a hard night that is really wonderful.

What else… Some hospital contacts at Chapman General and other SoCal hospitals while I was looking for work. I had done a lot of footwork before I left Virginia.

02 Jan 94: KINKO’s CARD; BIG PLAN 9 PURCHASE
28 Jan 94: Party @ Jim’s Place
29 Jan 94: Flaming Wok, Schindler’s List
02 Feb 94: Cracker – Trax
22 Feb 94: In the Name of the Father
13 Mar 94: Between the Teeth, Tower
20 Mar 94: Satellite Fix, Kabuki
21 Mar 94: Waldenbooks, Roanoke
26 Mar 94: 24th Int’l Tournee of Animation
(Also in May here was seeing Janet, my girlfriend at the time.)
06-10 May 94: To San Diego for Silva Family Reunion
22 May 94: 4 guys named moe
25 May 94: 4 weds & a funeral
08 Jul 94: Leave for Europe
19 Aug 94: to San Diego (EW 830 till 530)
25 Aug 94: Lollapalooze 1pm
29 Aug 94: Los Alamitos Interview
01-30 Sep 94: I have *lots* of stuff happening this month. Interviews with California Hospital, a per diem outfit, ACLS recertification in Orange County, calling old friends, Kinko’s, Chris G and family, LAMC orientation on 26 Sep, a class I took at Art Center (and did terribly in), Street Scene in San Diego. Very busy month!
01-31 Oct 94: Still busy, but a regular routine. Los Alamitos started their shifts at this strange time, 22:15, and they occasionally had per diems work day shifts too. Man I hated that. Days or nights or never the twain shall meet man! Even then I knew swinging back and forth between shifts was not healthy. Also this month I interviewed at UCI medical center. That was a great interview but they would not consider per diem people at all. And at the time, I was all about being flexible. I wanted to pick and choose my time, and they were against that. They lost.
01-30 Nov 94: It looks like I have my votes in the California election written out here. I voted for a strange mix of candidates. Could this be right? I voted Green for Senator, Lt. Gov, Secretary of State, Republican for Controller Tresurer and Atty General, and Democrat for Governor. And what the heck is “L” for the insurance commissioner. It’s really strange to see this political iconoclasm at 24. I still go my own way on things, but I guess the changes in this country have steered me toward more simple party votes. But I like this 24 year old version of myself. He really seems to care about his right to vote his conscience. I can just see myself reading all the candidate statements and making decisions that way. Also this month I had a second interview (a month later!) at California Hospital and got hired. Then there was overlap working for both hospitals, one in downtown L.A. and one deep in the OC. That was kinda wacky. Somewhere in there I moved into the Oakwood apartments in Koreatown. A little studio apartment for $600/month.
01-31 Dec 94: More California Hospital schedules. I worked New Year’s that year. There was an anniversary party for my Grandparents that year.

My encapsulations are glossing over so much stuff. No possible way to sum up a year in a blog post. But you’re getting the broad strokes.

Let’s see, there’s some more notes in here. I have some addresses and phone numbers. Most of these have changed now. Oh, I didn’t transfer them all in here. See, at the time I kept my addresses in a spreadsheet on my Amiga. I can’t remember the name of the software but it was pretty good. I would shrink the type size to be narrow and small, and I would always print a new copy, and keep that with me at all times in my wallet, carefully and lovingly folded. I was well organized.

Oh, here’s something, showtimes for _Ed Wood_ at some Orange County theatres. I like that movie.

This was a fun post for me, though I wonder what you got out of it?

I’m discarding this item now.