fooling around

First things first, I'm ENGAGED!  :)

I love April Fools Day!  I love love love to tease people and be sarcastic and make things up and watch people's reactions... regardless of the day.  Working with people with dementia, everyday is April Fool's Day, because I am entering their world, going along with everything they do, and pretending their reality is the right one... and even with my cognitively intact clients, I'm "fooling" them into exercising and getting something majorly therapeutic out of something that seems normal.

BUT AFD gives me free reign to do it ALL DAY to anybody!  I LOVE IT!  I don't go overboard, by any means, but I like to have a little fun.

My yearly tradition has been to change my facebook relationship status...  This used to spark a big reaction, since my friends know me as someone who doesn't mess around in the dating world... to publicly announce a relationship would be a MAJOR deal (actually something I have NEVER done... I choose to keep my personal life OFF of the FB anyway).  Well, this year, in light of an actual (though ambiguous) relationship occurring, I decided I needed to take it up a notch so as to not be too close to reality that it's not really a joke.  So this morning, I got engaged.  No ring, no date set, and I have a feeling that it will be called off in the next couple hours. ;)

Even after changing my status the last few years, I was pretty please with the reaction... allllll day.

Even my friends were talking about it amongst themselves (screenshot courtesy of my friend who joined in the laughs with me!)

Although my favorite goof had to be teasing my "good friend" with some tempting thoughts while he was working hard at the hospital (on his internal medicine rotation)..... we ended up messaging all day and once he caught on to today's date, it left him very sad and disappointed. ;)

I may have been misleading... but there are worse things to joke about.  How can you be with somebody who can't keep you rolling off your chair laughing?!  Maybe other people don't need that, but it's a MUST for me.  Hope he appreciates the same in return... or at least can laugh at how dorky and embarrassing I can be.
 
SOO I tried to make up for my dishonest actions earlier in the day by sending him this provocative and enticing image ........

which is actually, innocently enough............

 a piece of paper.

(Photo/Joke credit: http://www.moillusions.com/2009/07/um-it%E2%80%99s-just-paper-illusion.html)

Anyway, I'm in trouble.  He threatened to take away our potential (isn't it always "potential"?) time together in Wilmington this upcoming weekend (where he is on rotation currently), but I have a good feeling he was fooling a bit himself.... As little time as we get with each other, I don't think we can take any of our available "fooling around" time for granted!

Besides that, I got a few good chuckles today at work... especially with one of my memory support ALF residents, who has dementia and is also bipolar, who loves to make up her own songs... we provided a rare and engaging entertainment experience to the very quiet living room at the facility today with two renditions of "Joke of the Day" (original title and lyrics by Ms. W... I provided the hand percussion and backup vocals).  Just a day in the life...

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I am a 20-something, "new" occupational therapist working in geriatrics for a large national rehab company, learning to navigate the real world of health care (not the fake one with unlimited time, resources, and overflowing "evidence" like we are taught in school...).  I now serve four clinics within 6 months of moving to this new city, and I meet a million wonderful older adults, family members and health care workers every day.  I have few friends my age, and even fewer who are connected to the medical field/health care, which is why I love this blog group and cherish the colleagues and friends I can relate with.  One of those friends is an amazing and handsome 3rd year medical student whom I care about very much, which just adds to the trickiness of figuring out how that whole "love" thing fits into all of this.  And sometimes I just like to write about it. :)

April is Occupational Therapy Month... and even though I should have made this post about that... there will surely be more to come on THAT topic. ;)  Leave me a note if you've stopped by- I'd love it, and I'm gonna do my best to get around to as many other hoppers as I can!

B