Return of the Renaissance Man?

A really big hot button issue, or so I've been told, in the field of health and patient care is the idea of an interdisciplinary team. This is different from a multidisciplinary team.
An interdisciplinary team works together with a common goal and takes into consideration the benefits and aids of the professionals also involved in the patients care. The professionals will often come together in the same session and work together.
A multidisciplinary team has many individual parts that work independently from each other, focusing on their own strengths/goals to help the patient. These professionals will not come together in the same session but will still update each other about their own particular progress.


While chewing on these thoughts, I couldn't help but think about the Renaissance Man and how this interdisciplinary unit/team of professionals looked similar. One unit, one goal, many professions. Although the professionals in the team do specialize in a particular area, which is not very renaissance like, the fact that they work together in a common goal as a unit is. It's an expansion of the Man into a closer knit team. This is different from what has traditionally been going on in the field of health over the past 100 years. It's been about specialization and how beneficial it is for doctors to be work within their own spectrum. There has been little insight into how a different field might benefit the goals of another. Eg. How music therapy might be useful for a dermatologist patient.

One of the great benefits of this new Renaissance man is that the quality of care/knowledge is not diminished; each member of the team is very specialized. The original renaissance man could not possibly contain all the knowledge of this combined team thus he/she could not possible give the quality care this team can.

I wonder if this renaissance man will be found in other disciplines outside of health? With the economical downturn, maybe having one person with the capacities of many will be a new economical trend. Ha! I just thought about the Resume trend. It's all about transferable skills.

Drive, school, drive, homework, sleep and repeat

OK I know it's been a few months but I have a good excuses.

a) I got married. As any former bride is aware, weddings are a HUGE distraction from any writting endevours and take time to plan. I'll post some pics when I get them back from my mom. (She is oh so proud)

b) I am a student again. I don't remember school being so much work. This program is perhaps particularly so though. 7 Courses and two labs jammed into one week. Seriously, I've had projects, tests, papers due every other day. Audiology, intro to neurological disorders in adults, phonology and articulation, augmentative and alternative communication, profession, therapy, and intro to therapy with children. Most of this stuff is new to me. Also I'm driving 2 hours to school and 2 hours back. The weather is starting to suck and I am getting tense.

Excuses. Excuses.

I'm so good at these. I just wish I could keep up with my writing.

Cheers

Things that have happened since my last post

1. I got stuck in an elevator at work and had to push that yellow emergency button. (FWI- I had to ring it 3 times until someone answered) Apparently I like being stuck in elevators as much as I like bats swooping at my head. Ok, so I didn't scream and turn myself into a little denfensive ball, but I did feel a strange panic come over me.

2. Our wedding invites were completed and printed


(Image has been altered for privacy issues)

A big thank you to Dana Cowie for doing this design. I love it!

3. I suck at finishing things I want to get done. Suzanne and I are doing a joint creative writing project and I still have not posted mine yet. Sorry love. I'll try and have them up for tomorrow. I hate when I suck.

D.I.Y.

I'm a big fan of the do it yourself culture and was quite happy to come across a website called Instructables. As quoted, it's "the worlds biggest show and tell". They have tutorials on everything. Yes everthing. The site has been divided into 13 sections: Art, craft, food, games, green, home, kids, life, offbeat, pets, photography, rides and tech.
From >"How to sleep in a bed with your friend" to "How to mod a nintento controller into a cell phone". Smoke bombs to bike generators, ping pong ball lights to "How to fill an office with packing peanuts" , this website is a must to check out.

It has inspired me to write my own tutorial. Post to follow.

If...

I was once told that to think about things that could never be, things that were impossible- never to be had - was a frivolous pleasure and a waste of your thoughts and time. Talking about such things was an even greater offense. (I guess because it involved bringing another mind into the equation. Twice the inefficency?)
I once tried to limit the nonsense in my thought, to exercise the practical and realistic, but to be honest it felt like I was confined, somehow tied down. I know that not all things are possible. That there are laws in life and certain limitations that restrict us from obtaining all things but there is something freeing about thinking if. In your mind, it seems, those limitations disapear and all things do become possible. It's a filling of desire. A way to experience something even if it is a farce. Sometimes a lie feels better than the truth.
Now to live in this dream-like state forever/constantly does have its dangers but as a vacation I'd prefer it to the everyday entertainments offered to our culture.

Here are some of my ifs.....

IF
.... I wasn't saving $$$ for my wedding I'd go to What The Heck Fest and have a chance to see: Mirah & Khaela Maricich/the Blow plus many other bands I'm sure to love. One day, yes one day, I will surely make it out to the West Coast.

.... I had more $$$ saved I would go to Venezuela for my honeymoon and see the giant waterfall and the plateau that inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write The Lost World. I would brush up on my Spanish, develop a glowing tan and swim in the Atlantic Ocean.

.... I could turn into an animal I would become a spider and weave beautiful silk chords of web amongst the reeds by the ocean. I would capture the sand fleas and horseflys in tight little cocoons and drink the dew that moistened my threads.

.... I captured darkness in my hands I would show it to only a few. True darkness that lets in no light. I don't think all people can handle darkness but perhaps seeing it, holding it, would bring insight into plight.

Free Rice

Check out www.freerice.com

It's a fun vocab game that donates 20 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program for every word you get right. It's great way to increase your vocabulary and to help feed those in need.

Notice to nerds

If you like to read Manga, a good website to read it online is: Mangavolume (Just remember to read from right to left.)

This is where I read deathnote- a very good read I might add- that can also be viewed as animie on late night YTV once in a while.



Right now I'm reading Bitter Virgin More serious than the title may suggest.

10

Starting as a tone-deaf sonnet of sorts, the words sound flat or sharp without rhythm. Or rhyme, or reason, messing up the tune. A jumble of phrases that have one thing: Ten awkward syllables that construct each.

Dream Log #2

This morning I dreamt that I was in a garage moving boxes or something with some people. Beside one box was a spider. A large spider. I wasn't afraid of it, more curious about it. I didn't think it was harmful even though it was really large. It bit me when I tried to pick it up and so I went to the hospital where I had to fill out some paperwork before the doctor could see me. Strange paperwork that looked more like English homework from 2nd grade. While in the waiting room this guy started talking to me and trying to squeeze my waist. I got super annoyed and got up and left to sit down in a different area. Some nurse told me the guy was harmless and a regular at the hospital. (Mental health patient?) My spider bite started to get really big and some people came over to look at it. They were debating as to which type of spider it was that would cause a bite mark like mine. (It was cone shaped, like a very small ice cream cone, and purple/red.) While they were debating I woke up realizing my alarm had gone off 15 min's ago.

Dusty Duties

The layers of dust are thick but here's a life update:

1. My grandfather passed away last July. I took it kind of hard.
2. I am going back to school in Sept. in Orillia. It's a one year program in the right direction. I've decided to become a speech/language pathologist or perhaps an audiologist. CODA program This program is really intense and I'm excited. After I'm finished, I'm hoping to get my Masters.
3. I'm getting married on Sept. 20 and my plans are slowly coming together. I'm not really sure how I'm going to be able to afford both a wedding and school but I've made up my mind to do both so I can't really worry about it.
4. I met some of my cousins who were estranged. It's exciting because it's been at least 15 years maybe longer since I had seen them. I have hope that there will be more meetings to come.
5. My cat Inu went missing and now I have a dog named Sprocket. She is part poodle, part collie. I got her from the pound.