i hate having to live a frugal lifestyle. i mean, the word 'frugal' already conjures up images of shabby one-room gah-men owned apartments, cup-noodle dinners and feature episodes on Extraordinary People. don't get me wrong, i would love to stay in a one-room apartment and have cup noodles for dinner everyday, but even my current financial status would not allow that. why? because i am living off my savings of only about $1.5k. and it's draining. transportation is expensive. clubbing is expensive. cigarettes are pretty expensive too. come to think of it, i haven't bought anything for myself for the past 2 months. other than a copy of 8 days. jason hahn had better read this. i skipped 1 x tea-break so that i can buy 8 days okay!

but thank god for jobs. jobs that pay the rent. jobs that add some significance to my blog address. yes, it's true! starting from the 23rd of October, spankthemalenurse is officially a BLOG BELONGING TO A REAL REGISTERED NURSE (triumphant gay anthems and sparkles!). can you believe it? after 2 bloody slack years serving my previous organization, i am now actually working. and just like planting rice, it's never fun.

nursing is not exactly a damn fun job. why? because you can't afford to look like you're slacking. the patient's relatives are a bunch of sharp-eyed nasty people. ok lah, not all of them. but a minority. most of them are very nice if you help them. the motherfuckers are the ones who see you do something that remotely looks like taking a breather, then HA! complaints! crticisms! upper managements! the works! and i don't like to get stressed up and frenzied in a high-paced environment like the hospital. thus to act busy, i always carry something in my hand. normally it'll be a urinal.

and apparently, my ward has this very anti-break sentiment. yes, we're all entitled to our tea and lunch breaks. but everyone is working so hard and so busy that they don't have time for a break. me on the other hand, will always make time for breaks. no matter what, i will drop everything and just rush to the rooftop for a smoke or downstairs for a juice or something. but it's difficult in my ward, given that EVERYONE starts work looking glamorous and ends looking like shit (and smelling like it too). you will actually feel guilty for taking a break. and that's not good. but then again, i'm immune to gossip and criticisms. so breakaway, i say!

but still, it doesn't help having to start the first day of your job on everyone else's payday. my first day of work, everyone was receiving their pay transcripts. and there i was with only S$50 in my wallet to last for the whole of next month. i keep the rest of the $1.5k with the parents, see. so i have to go through them and several lectures before i can actually gain access to my money. tedious, but what to do?

so the next time you see a hot nurse carrying a urinal and looking really frugal and all, please give him some spare change amounting to 2 dollars. at least let him have his 8 days.

---