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wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
Wonderful Starfish
@wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
120 followers 130 following 2.9K posts
Psych RN, writer, gamer, parent. Up late on the socials while rocking a fussy baby.

#ReportableEvents- a horror/comedy flash fiction project.

Also, don't use ChatGPT for therapy.
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wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
It was awfully nice of all the big agribusiness groups to only use pesticides that come right off when held under a room temperature tap for three seconds.
November 17, 2025 at 10:32 PM
wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
Preschooler got ahold of my phone, wrote this:

Faceted ibuprofen p6t thither unique hut try iTunes petition 9o U2 6u U2 I've uhg he h free video C x2 h be be fae 8 use

Maybe don't try to read that out loud. Might summon something.

#parenting #parentsky
November 17, 2025 at 3:29 PM
wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
Reportable Events, episode 44

Original Post 10/20/2017

"First Clinical Day in East"

In which East continues to be a hole.

#flashfiction
#ReportableEvents
First Clinical Day in East I’m worried that having my clinical in East is going to throw off my whole semester. It’s such a horrible place that I’m always on edge. Five minutes in to my first official clinical day and I already almost flipped out. I was shadowing with an RN and she was showing me one of the patient rooms. She started with the wall switches by the door. “Remember from left to right they go lights, screaming, oxygen.” She flipped the switches as she went, turning on the lights, the unearthly howling, and the hiss of oxygen from the wall. I almost lost it. That’s such a stupid thing to have controlled by a switch by the door. I mean you could come in fumbling for the light and accidentally turn off their oxygen. That could seriously hurt someone. Also, that screaming switch seems weird to but I don’t know enough about the therapeutic value of screams to complain about it yet.
November 16, 2025 at 11:40 AM
wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
Hey #booksky are there any good examples of books where the cover illustration is one of the opening scenes?

Like the illustrator read the first 10 pages and thought "Eh, I've got what I need."
November 15, 2025 at 5:02 PM
wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
My preschooler is marching through the house playing a bike pump like a flute and singing the one line of "Love Train" he knows.
November 15, 2025 at 5:01 PM
wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
So the pandemic/ COVID isn't over, but we could really use a phrase that means "2020- like 2023 or something" to describe that period specifically and I don't have a better phrase than "during the Pandemic".

Sometimes I say "the acute phase of the pandemic" but thats awkward.
November 15, 2025 at 3:32 PM
wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
Reportable Events, episode 43

Original Post 10/18/2017

"Halloween is coming"

In which I would have sworn I posted this one already.

#flashfiction
#ReportableEvents
Halloween's Coming Posters for the Halloween festivities are going up. Mostly they just list places of sanctity where you can hide from the vengeful spirits: the chapel, phlebotomy, the imaging suite, the Starbucks in the lobby, the walk-in freezer, and the secret sub basement we aren’t allowed to know about. Also there were some pretty draconian restrictions on costumes, especially women’s. I feel uncomfortable about that.
November 15, 2025 at 11:22 AM
wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
Went to a board game night tonight! I played Eschaton. How was it? Let's just say when I got home and found the dishwasher was broken I thought "working on this will be the most enjoyable thing I do tonight."
November 15, 2025 at 3:49 AM
wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
My version of "may you live in interesting times" is "may you work with high functioning people"
November 14, 2025 at 8:20 PM
wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
Baby getting his incisors in and beyond the lack of sleep in not ready for that gummy smile to be done forever.

But also I'm so tired that it took 8 tries to spell incisor.
November 14, 2025 at 11:43 AM
wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
This!
Wildendrem Volume Two: The Saintly Hollows
Two new books of mythic adventure in a land of wonder and peril, for use on their own or alongside the award-winning Valley of Flowers.
www.kickstarter.com
November 12, 2025 at 8:25 PM
wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
Reportable Events, episode 42

Original Post 10/16/2017

"No Rest for the Weary"

In which nurses are like this for real.

#flashfiction
#ReportableEvents
#nursing
No Rest for the Weary If you ever want to start a pissing contest between nurses, just complain about being tired. Every nurse in earshot will descend to top each other’s complaint. Darius was halfway through a double shift, Pam was on her third double this week, Heather has worked 80 hour weeks for a month, and Arlene hasn’t had a day off since May. Then Janice came by and said she hadn’t had a day off since 1978. I asked her how someone could handle that. She paused for a moment to think about it, then crumbled into dust. Now everyone’s mad at me because we’ll have to take extra shifts to cover for Janice.
November 12, 2025 at 11:14 AM
wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
Reportable Events, episode 41

Original Post 10/13/2017

"Worst Day Ever"

In which calamity strikes.

#flashfiction
#ReportableEvents
Worst Day Ever Some days I don’t know why I even get out of bed. I got my clinical posting: I’m working in East.
November 11, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Reposted by Wonderful Starfish
wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
Newborns ate such optimists:

"This is near my face. It might have milk in it. I'll suck on it for a while and see."

"Oh that's my own hand? I'll keep going just to make sure."

#parenting #babies
February 1, 2025 at 8:01 AM
wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
Oh shit! I just realized I forgot the 5th of November this year.
November 10, 2025 at 3:28 PM
wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
Reportable Events, episode 40

Original Post 10/12/2017

"Orientation Day"

In which we are introduced to things we already know.

#flashfiction
#ReportableEvents
Orientation Day Today was orientation day for my clinical section. It was supposed to be on the 6th but obviously wolf week delayed that. As expected, it was fairly awkward for me as I’ve already worked here so a lot was pretending not to know things so I don’t come off as arrogant. I’ll admit though, I was curious to see what they would show us on day one. For the most part, it was pretty much what I expected, hitting all the highlights: the main atrium of The Lobby, a post surgical floor in North, the cafeteria, the secret sub basement no one is supposed to know about, med rooms, staff rooms, and one of the conference rooms where we’ll be holding our post clinical debriefings. Well, we didn’t actually go into all of those places of course; the cafeteria is still closed. Tomorrow we’ll find out where we’re going to be posted for the semester. While it would certainly be easy to work in South where I already know everyone, I’m hoping for one of the units in North where they do interesting stuff that’s different from my usual practice. Really, I think I’d be fine anywhere, as long as I’m not stuck in East.
November 10, 2025 at 9:18 AM
wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
On a long car ride, my preschooler asked for a story. I told a bowdlerized version of the Hobbit and now hes demanding more Bilbo and Gandalf stories and I have to think of something. So far I've taken them through part of the Odyssey and next I might see if they can find the Holy Grail. Any ideas?
November 7, 2025 at 12:13 AM
wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
Reportable Events, episode 39

Original Post 10/11/2017

"Why You Don't Give Doctors Your Cell Number"

In which direction communication is an issue and we explore the limits of our medium.

#flashfiction
#ReportableEvents
Why You Don't Give Doctors Your Cell Number A screen shot from Jamie's phone. It is 4.13 AM and the phone is at 56% percent battery. A text message chain from Dr Varma reads: Jamie, can you please come up to South 5? Please bring the following: Car battery 2 Litres holy water All the IV Zofran you can find Cattle prod or Taser 1 kilo ground beed Ball point pen (Every word in the message is capitalized) Jamie responds: I can't find a pen The text message chain concludes with Dr Varma replying: OK, never mind. You can stay on south 3. I'll make do. In the blog Jamie writes: I don't know why she capitalizes every word either.
November 6, 2025 at 10:37 AM
wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
With the government shutdown, only truly essential services remain in effect. Fortunately for all of us, this is one of them:
jaythechou.bsky.social jaythechou.bsky.social @jaythechou.bsky.social · 11d
I Photoshop Paddington into a movie, TV show, or pop culture until I forget: Day 1697
Paddington in Knives Out! (2019)
November 6, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Reposted by Wonderful Starfish
roryblank.bsky.social
Donald Trump can completely turn around his legacy and the way historians view him with two simple words, on the last day of his presidency, during his farewell speech, if he closes by saying

The aristocrats
November 5, 2025 at 6:19 AM
wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
Reportable Events, episode 38

Original Post 10/9/2017

"Chapel Hunt: The Lobby"

In which we return to an interrupted project.

#flashfiction
#ReportableEvents
Chapel Hunt: The Lobby Last week’s events interrupted my midnight lunch break chapel searching but tonight I’ finally got back to it. I’m finishing up with the newest “chapel”: the Ecumenical Interfaith Worship and Meditation Center in The Lobby. I think it’s appropriate to go there on Columbus Day as it’s basically a temple to modern liberal guilt. Everything is carefully sanitized to prevent any appearance of conveying favoritism to any single religion while incorporating as much unnecessary technology as possible. In fact, there are no obviously religious symbols in the room. The closest thing would be the logos on all the touch screens everywhere. The first thing you notice about it is that unlike the other chapels, this space isn’t a conventional rectangular church. Instead it’s more of an amphitheater. The stage (not sure what the church term is for the stage where the altar sits, but it’s clearly a stage right?) is a half hexagon, with stadium seating pews going up on three sides. There are big projection screens above the stage for displaying scripture or mantras or any other quasi-religious PowerPoints the speaker wants to throw up there. The pews are a little wider than normal so they can serve as meditation mats as well as benches. The upshot of that is that they are a little too wide to sit on regularly and too narrow for sitting on cross legged. Oh, they also have touch screens in the back. There’s a placard out front that has the architect’s design notes. It begins: “The goal of this project was to deconstruct the concept of ‘religious space’ by deconstructing the concepts of ‘religion’ and ‘space’. I wanted to expose the inherent flaws in the outdated structure of the fundamental dichotomy between pastor and flock.” It goes on that way for about three feet of 14 point type. The conclusion thanks the various corporate sponsors in the tech industry, which explains the touch screens in the podium, backs of pews, and the altar itself. As an upside, it’s one of the few places in the hospital that isn’t haunted. Apparently the massive electromagnetic field it puts out means that ghosts can’t enter. The downside is that you really can’t stay in the room more than ten minutes before your fillings start to itch.
November 4, 2025 at 9:18 AM
wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
This behavior has always been a thing, even before LLMs.

Back in the day I was on a forum for LotR Online, before the game came out. I tried to get a conversation going on what exactly is Tom Bombadil.

First reply started "Well, here's what the encyclopedia of Arda says..."
November 3, 2025 at 11:09 PM
wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
That magical time of year when the store displays have changed to Christmas but the Playlist is still on Halloween.
November 3, 2025 at 4:07 PM
wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
Me: bedtime and I'm like 200 steps short.

Baby: I got you bro
November 3, 2025 at 3:29 AM
wonderfulstarfish.bsky.social
The beta test will allow users to dislike posts by @jcsalterego.bsky.social and only @jcsalterego.bsky.social
tyleraking.com Tyler King @tyleraking.com · 17d
“As users ‘dislike’ posts, the system will learn what sort of content they want to see less of. This will help to inform more than just how content is ranked in feeds, but also reply rankings.”
Bluesky hits 40 million users, introduces 'dislikes' beta | TechCrunch
As users "dislike" posts, the system will learn what sort of content they want to see less of. This will help to inform more than just how content is ranked in feeds, but also reply rankings.
techcrunch.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:18 AM