the underwear drawer

gala

Last night we went to the Gala Ball for the opening of the new hospital. It was pretty fun. First of all, it was like going to a really huge, expensive wedding at the Grand Hyatt hotel, with the free food, drinks, and sequined-but-tasteful (for the most part) evening wear. There were self-congratulatory speeches and free gifts at every table (a bar-of-soap-sized clock, with the date of the new hospital opening date inscribed at the base), and a quite good ten-piece band to incite everyone to jump around, jump around, jump up jump up and get down. There was the mandatory playing of "Celebrate" after an elaborate AV slide and video show about the hospital staff. Residents were given very cursory mention in the love-fest (I think its because we can't really strike or quit, so who cares?) but we cheered like audience members on the "Ricki Lake Show" when that one person did think to thank us for our work. (I think "the residents" were sandwiched between "Housekeeping" and "Security" in the long, I'd like to thank just a few people Oscar speech-type list.)

Food: surprisingly good! We showed up pretty late and therefore missed most of the cocktail hour, figuring the schoozy part of the evening was not really for us anyway, rather for the rich donors and hospital bigwigs. But very tasty appetizer of grilled shrimp, and a shockingly well-cooked peppercorn-rubbed steak, not too well done. And lots of yummy petit fours and assorted tarts for dessert. Not bad for a free meal. Thanks, [Chair of the Department] for paying for our tickets! Our morale has been somewhat restored!

Best part of the night was seeing the nurses dressed up. I could barely recognize them out of scrubs. See, we sometimes wear scrubs, sometimes wear normal clothes. Nurses always have to wear scrubs. So to see them with their pretty dresses and their hair and makeup all done with their spouses and partners was great, for me. Yay, pretty and handsome nurses!

The ribbon cutting ceremony for the new hospital is this Wednesday. I want to go and see what celebrities show up to get their face in the papers. My guess is Derek Jeter, as we're kind of his token philantropy cause. And who knows, maybe I can score a free T-shirt or something.