Naughty Nurses

[buxom-bey.livejournal.com]

I wanted to thank everyone at Arisia on behalf of the Naughty Nurses. We filled all 70 available time slots!! These past two years have been so successful, there's been talk of having 2 blood mobiles next year.

If you missed the Nurses skit during the Rocky Pre-show, have a look.

Anyone interested in being a Naughty Nurse next year is invited to join our naughty_nurses community. This is also a perfect spot to share any Nurse photos you may have.

Thank you all! We are only as successful as you make us!

Comments

[msbutterpecan.livejournal.com]

I was the last one to give blood!

*yay!*

It would be nice to be a naughty nurse...*heehee, total fantasy*

[magid.livejournal.com]

I'd be really happy if the blood drive expanded to Sunday! I'm Sabbath observant, so the Saturday drive doesn't work for me; Sunday would make it possible to donate.

[buxom-bey.livejournal.com]

Expanding to other days has been discussed. However, MGH's policy is not to run blood drives on Sunday. I do not know the reasoning behind this, it may be an over time pay issue, or something else entirely. Either way, we may not be able to work around it. Monday being a holiday would likewise not be possible. Friday was considered, but depending on the start time, that may not be helpful in your case.

thanks for the information

[magid.livejournal.com]

I never knew that about MGH. Odd. (Particularly so to me because I know that Children's accepts donations on Sundays.)

I think Monday wouldn't be a good day anyway, with people much more focused on bag wrangling and such as they check out.

Shabbat of Arisia tends to be about 4:15/4:30ish to 5:15/5:30ish. I try to get there early enough that if there weren't a long wait, Friday afternoon would be theoretically possible, but it's always stressful getting everything done in time. I think the most useful option for me would be having the drive run later Saturday, if that's feasible.

Re: thanks for the information

[buxom-bey.livejournal.com]

Looks like first_clark has created a poll to find the best suited time. Shabbat usually ends about the same time of day that it begins yes? So if Saturdays were extended to say, 6 or 8pm, would that work?

Re: thanks for the information

[magid.livejournal.com]

Shabbat ends 25 hours after it begins. 6 pm end time would just barely work if everything is just right; 7 pm or later makes it much easier (heck, even 6:30, if it comes to that).

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

The Children's Hospital also has a bloodmobile (http://www.childrenshospital.org/about/Site1394/mainpageS1394P6sublevel39.html). Maybe they do Sundays?

[amysuemom.livejournal.com]

I totally understand needing to remain Shomer Shabbas if that is your practice, but was wondering if donating blood is seen as violating that. For John and I it isn't because of it's life giving nature, but we are not Shomer Shabbas, although we observe Shabbat.

[magid.livejournal.com]

For me, it's an issue because it's not necessary for me to give blood on Shabbat to save a life; I could do it another time. If there were some bizarre confluence of circumstances so that I was the only possible person able to donate for someone who needed blood today, that would be different.

(Issues include the paperwork required, and I believe a needle insertion is problematic unless necessary.)

[amysuemom.livejournal.com]

I am always educating people that everyone has their own levels of observance and I respect everyones choices and understand the problems a Saturday donation brings. I hope you weren't offended by my asking!

[magid.livejournal.com]

Not offended at all! I hope my reply didn't read that I was...

And, levels of observance can be hard to explain sometimes. (In the "just because I do X in this way, do not generalize that all (religious) Jews do X in the same way." sense; it's a lot easier for people to think "all Jews do X".)

[tehuti.livejournal.com]

Have you considered asking your rabbi whether or not it would be ok to donate blood on Shabbas? I think that my old rabbi wouldn't have had a problem with it, but I was raised Reform, and am non-observant now.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I haven't considered asking, because there are enough obvious obstacles that it never occurred to me to bother, especially since there's a donation center about 2 blocks from my workplace. While it would be cool to donate at Arisia, it's easy enough for me to donate another time/place, when there aren't any issues.

(For one thing, there's all the paperwork that needs to be done, plus the sphygnomenometers are measuring blood pressure, and there are usually electronic devices involved, and so on...)

[tehuti.livejournal.com]

True, but does letting someone use an electronic device on you mean that you are using it by proxy?

Not trying to convince you that you are wrong, just curious about this, as, for another example, I know some people wouldn't push an elevator call button, but would ride in it, and others that wouldn't even do that.

[magid.livejournal.com]

In this case, it's not that they're doing the electronic thing of their own choice and for their own benefit (for instance, pushing the elevator button because they want to ascend, and me getting on the elevator when it arrives (er, which I admit I tend to avoid, even so)), but doing it because I have, essentially, asked for it to be done. This means that they are acting as my delegate (probably not quite the right English word, but I'm blanking on anything more useful), and the actions are considered mine. Since these are not actions I choose to do myself, this is problematic for me.

(Not sure whether this is clear to anyone outside my own head. Let me know if it doesn't make sense?)

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Thing is, asking a rabbi would give the rabbi's opinion on the matter, which, whatever it might be, is really no more valid than anyone else's in terms of dictating what that person feels is right or wrong for them.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Well, sort of. If one asks a halachically-binding* question, then one gets a reply that gives one the relevant halacha according to the rabbi, which may constrain future action (assuming that one cares to be bound, but if one is interested in asking such a question, then presumably one is interested in the reply). There are ways of asking a rabbi for just an opinion, of course, but that's generally not what's meant by the phrase "ask the rabbi."


* halacha = Jewish law

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

True, but with an issue that is sufficiently removed from the canon, heavy interpretation can come into play. One might ask a rabbi to hear their interpretation and justification, but it may be that another rabbi can cite just as many bits to defend the opposite position. As with any debate, there may not be a clear "winner". Plus, well, three Jews, five opinions and all that. :)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Of course, there are different answers possible to most situations, a variety of opinions. I'm not arguing that.

However, if one does ask a rabbi as a decisor, one is obligated to follow the reply given. (Which is to say, it's not really analogous to asking another sort of professional, say, a doctor, and deciding what to do with the information given, whether to use it or to find a second opinion.)

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I confess I never thought of it that way, but more as a consultation, ie, "I'm not sure about this one so I want to hear what you, as a more learned expert, think, so that I can consider that in my deliberations."

What if you ask two rabbis and they have different answers?

[magid.livejournal.com]

Technically, one is not supposed to ask two rabbis. One is supposed to ask one's own rabbi (likely the rabbi of the congregation that one is affiliated with), and if they do not feel competent to answer (for instance, it has to do with very specialized areas of halacha), then they find someone who is an expert rabbi in that area to present the question to.

PS

[magid.livejournal.com]

The rabbi-as-decisor model is not necessarily how it works in less traditional communities; rabbi-as-learned-expert is definitely how other communities work.

Re: PS

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I knew you were going to say that (about the two rabbis), so I should have added immediately... let's say for argument's sake, another rabbi (heck, or two) were there when you asked the first. It is almost certain that an argument would ensue, even if they all agreed, but say they didn't agree and the one who made more sense to you was the other guy. (Yes, I know I'm getting a bit silly.)

I generally thought of the Jewish community I grew up in as fairly traditional, relatively speaking. The shul was conservadox (I couldn't read the Torah for my bat mitzvah) and we spent half the school day in Hebrew. And my cousins and their families are all quite Orthodox.

Now that I think about it, I can't say for sure anyone ever said anything definitive one way or the other on the subject, but it was the impression I got from the stories and whatnot, I guess. Or maybe I just made the whole thing up.

Re: PS

[magid.livejournal.com]

Well, there's all those jokes that are the equivalent of "three rabbis walk into a bar....," and all, so it's not like the idea isn't out there.

If there were multiple rabbis around, the questioner would still be asking zie's primary rabbi (as it were). And the other rabbi(s) are unlikely to verbally disagree unless they think that the primary rabbi is flat out wrong (rather than just not quite what they'd say; it's a river with many streams, after all).

Though I have to say, I suspect that any time a rabbi is getting a decisor-question, he's likely to be in private with the questioner (or on the phone, or something reasonably private; questions might be about sensitive topics, after all).

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I'm not shomer, but if I was, I would not make an exception for this because one can donate blood anytime at one's own convenience. If the only possible times to ever do so were on Shabbat, then yes, I'd say it's okay to do, but that is not the case.

That said, I certainly wouldn't negatively judge in the slightest anyone who did feel this was a qualified exception, because I think it's a personal decision for every person to make on their own.

[doobie.livejournal.com]

Since Arisia will likely be 4 days again next year, it might be nice to have one Saturday and one Sunday (primarily for those who follow the Sabbath).

[hnybny.livejournal.com]

I had a really good time helping out this year. You were all great!

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

as you make us!

Ooh! Ooh! Naughty Nurses, lech lech!!!

[wren13.livejournal.com]

It was lovely sharing a table with you folks this year - it made the environment so lovely to look at [sigh]