Tomorrow is the beginning of phase 2 of my “rest and recovery” travel adventure. I was holding my breath until I got through the second Covid vaccination without complication. I am now confident that I will be on my way tomorrow around noon with my first night in Durham NC on my way to Lewes, DE. I will be able to breakfast in Durham with a good friend before I continue my journey.
This week I worked out with my trainer three times and have a whole series of exercises I can do on the road with a exercise band and mat. With my cycling, I know I will not do the strength training every day, but hope I can make myself do it 2-3x/week. I enjoy it when I pay someone telling me what to do – less so on my own.
I was able to move my stuff I don’t need but can’t get rid of from my rental storage unit to my free storage unit in my building. I met a neighbor (with a truck) who grew up in Indiana and is a musician. His wife is going to school to be a nurse practitioner. He helped me haul a carpet from my storage unit that I couldn’t get into my car. When I get back from my travels, I will invite them over for drinks and build this relationship. I look forward to having friendly neighbors.
I sent my tax document to my accountant which was a major goal for the week. I also finished watching a Australian TV medical show that I found on HULU. The series is All Saints. Its first season was in 1998. I started this after I watched another Australian medical series call Offspring which I enjoyed. Offspring had 4 seasons with about 20 episodes per season. All Saints appeared in my “you might like” feed. It appeared to have 7 seasons and I assumed it would have a similar 20 episodes per season. 7 seasons seemed pretty daunting but I like knowing what I am going to be watching rather than going back and forth between Netflix, HULU, Prime, PBS, etc to pick something.
As I was watching the first season of All Saints, I realized I was on episode 25 and went to check to see how many episodes there were in a season and there were 42 in the first season. 7 seasons of 40 episodes seemed like a big commitment, but I was engaged. When I got to the last episode of Season 7, there was no closure and it automatically started Season 8. I then investigated and realized I thought there were 7 seasons because that is all that fit on one screen. There were actually 12 seasons. I thought about stopping at that point. While I had enjoyed the extended period of not having to make decisions about what to watch, my list of recommended shows I should watch was growing. Dilemma….
I decided to commit to the ultimate binge 12 Seasons of nearly 40 episodes per season as a once in a lifetime experience. I finished last night. While the medicine was not that realistic, the show did a nice job of integrating medicine in the social context of the time and in bringing in new characters as other characters left the hospital for various reasons that were realistic. I also liked the emphasis on the important role of nursing professionals. There was one actor that was on the show from beginning to end – Von Ryan, the feisty nurse who had seen it all. They ended the show with a montage of shots of scenes which included all fo the characters over the seasons. They felt like people I knew well. I am glad I don’t really have time to watch anything tonight – I am not ready to start something new and I rarely watch TV when I travel.
From now on, I will fully investigate number of episodes and number of seasons before I start another series. I hope that when I return, the vaccination status will be such that there will be increasing opportunities to build my community in Nashville so I will have MUCH LESS time to watch TV
Tamara Unleashed 