Anatomy of a Call Day

Once a weekend, a little less than once a month, I get to be on call. This is my least favorite part of my job. Weekend call involves being on beeper from 7 am Saturday morning to 7 am Monday morning, being always at the ready to go in and do some emergency surgery. This also means that for 48 hours, you really can't make any other plans. In fact, the surest way to get yourself called into work is to make plans (a movie, dinner, etc.). This has worked for me on numerous occasions. So usually I take the opposite approach and don't plan anything. This makes for long days trying to find ways to fill up your time, all the while knowing that your beeper could go off at any moment. So here's how I spent the first day of my call weekend:

9:30 Wake up. Two and one half hours into call, and no pages. A good thing, since most weekend "emergency" cases go on Saturday morning. Its time to get up.
9:45 Get on the computer. Check e-mail. Waste a good bit of time playing SimCity 4. While not a big video game person, I am addicted to this game, since it appeals to my love of architecture and engineering. Both of these were close 2nd career choices and neither probably involve weekend call.
11:30 Time to be productive. Take a bunch of mortgage-related papers (there are so many of them) to Kinko's, make copies, put copies in envelope, and put into mail. Drive by new place to see what all this paperwork is for. Now I'm happier. Drop by Fat Mo's (tasty in my mouth, nasty in my tummy) to get a burger and head home.
12:30 Back home. Decide to organize my receipts, so I grab six months worth of credit and debit card receipts, utility bills, work and school papers, and start organizing. I don't know exactly why I do this. I guess I'm afraid that in the distant future some IRS agent will show up on my doorstep demanding I produce some receipt from Captain D's from last February. About halfway through I stop and think: Can life get any better than this? I ponder for a moment, a small tear forms, and I realize No, no it can't.
2:00 Organizing receipts is tiring. Time for a nap.
4:00 Head out again. I go up to Warner Park, one of my favorite places in town. Along the road at one of the higher points is a pullout. There is a clearing and you can see far across the valley. The view is quite beautiful. This is my Call Friends Who Are Out of State Place. I call a friend in Texas, and the phone is unanswered. Loser. I then call a friend in Oregon. He does answer and we talk for awhile. He's one of my best friends from all the way back in high school, so its always good to hear from him.
5:15 At Blockbuster getting a movie for the evening when the pager finally goes off. A cystoscopy with uterer stone extraction. This involves shoving a long metal rod up someone's wee-wee (wee-wee is not a scientific term) to extract a kidney stone that won't pass on its own. The excitement is nearly unbearable.
7:20 Back home. All went well with the procedure. I pick up a pizza from Obie's (yumsters) on the way home and its time to watch my movie. Sometimes, when watching a movie on my own, I'll pick out the most obscure film I can. This time its a Hong Kong flick called Koma. I like Asian horror films. Unlike American horror films, they're very unpredictable, which can make them scarier. It also means that the plot rarely makes sense. Its true with Koma, which has something to do with kidney theft. It has a few good scares, and the two lead women, especially the one who's the main kidney thief, are very attractive. I have a little thing for the Asian women. Incidentally, I also have a thing for women who can play the cello. I really don't know why.
10:10 Get on the internet, go to Google, and type in "+asian +cellist +pics". I get back several obscene pictures of Yo-Yo Ma. Now I'm very disappointed. Also, its time for bed. That pager could go off again at any moment. You get your sleep when you can.