You Don't Have to Start in Med-Surg as a new Grad nurse

In reflecting on my career, I'm reminded of something I heard a lot of as a student: start in Med-Surg. I got lots of reasons. In hindsight, It would've been better to do the thinking myself regarding what I wanted instead of listening to those telling me how it is supposed to go.  Do You Have to start in Med-Surg as a new graduate nurse? No. That is my opinion after working in different specialties of nursing. It is not a bad idea to start in medical-surgical nursing but it is not a requirement or an absolute necessity. If you get the opportunity to work in a specialty you would like to end up in, please go ahead and take that opportunity. Your body will thank you later.  When I was graduating from college, a professor I admired told me to start in med-surg. And back then, it wasn't uncommon to here people say "start in med/surg". One of the reasons I sort of recall was so you can learn the basics of nursing and what not. Another rationale was that because you ar...
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Black Friday Spending after Retiring (FIRE)

 I am proud to say that I bought nothing on Black Friday. This may be my first. I had considered buying certain clothing items but one of the things I did this past week was get rid of clothes. I have a lot. As much as I used to shop a lot, I've not been one to get up early to go to a Black Friday event. I shopped a lot last year but I took advantage of the sales weeks before. This year, I still looked around on line and saw on a website that people who showed up at 5 a.m would get $10 off coupon, $100 off coupon or a $500 off coupon. I was like No. I didn't get up to at 1710 JST this November to watch Grand Sumo live. I caught up with it later. If I didn't get up for that, I don't think I'm getting up in the cold to drive to a mall for a chance at that. I read the fine print and saw that 90 out of a 100 were for $10 and 10 out of a $100 were for $100 and 1 coupon per store was for $500. Maybe it's because I liked Statistics and Probability but I decided to pass. 

Today however, I made a purchase before coming to write this. I got an offer for a software at 50% off when purchased with a computer and didn't add it to my purchase. Getting it afterwards meant paying full price. So I was hoping for 50% off during Cyber Monday. I was able to find it discounted 50% off at another retailer and with my points there, I paid less than 75% off after taxes. 


The goal of FIRE isn't to deprive ourselves of what we want. I actually have a little bit more shopping to do as there were some things I saved for now and they are 50% off also. These were things I was going to buy anyway with some already in my cart. Most of the stuff left to buy aren't "personal" items per se. I already mailed some Christmas stuff. 

I saw someone worrying about spending so much on a purchase this Black Friday since they've FIRE'd and I'm thinking that retiring doesn't mean you don't get good things for yourself. Don't be so obsessed about FIRE that it consumes you; Use some prudence and enjoy life. 

That said, my Thanksgiving plan was to travel to the Midwest. How that turned out may be for another day. I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving. And if you didn't go out trying to fill your cart this Black Friday, good for you.  And if you did, enjoy what you bought. Life is worth living😊. 

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