Do No Harm

Blythe Vatali, 25 Intern at USC University Hospital

[blythevatali]

Tv at 6am...

[tammy-skinner-deactivated201411]

They never work! Infomercials are so fake.

[blythevatali]

They are...I don't understand how anyone buys into them. Unless it's like 4am and they are sleep deprived...then maybe I can accept their mistake.

[nikkihuntington-deactivated2014]

I’m not sure I understood the difference.

[blythevatali]

Most people think of strength as physical or mental toughness. Being able to bulldoze your way over obstacles or negativity makes you strong and everything else is weakness. Sometimes compassion is strength, or optimism, or the ability to feel horribly negative an overwhelmed but still force yourself out of bed in the morning. Different sorts of strenghts, but they are all useful.

[blythevatali]

Tv at 6am...

[adele-clarke]

What if they could make your food taste better?! What if the molded plastic they used had taste enhancers in, so that when you ate your left overs the next day they actually tasted BETTER! Wouldn’t that be wonderful? 

[blythevatali]

Okay but imagine how bad that would be for people who run catering businesses or restaurants. If everyone had magic tupperware they wouldn't need to go out anywhere else to get delicious food. The economy would suffer, businesses would fail, people would be without jobs. Magic is dangerous, like I said.

[blythevatali]

Tv at 6am...

[adele-clarke]

Don’t be fooled! Tupperware can possess magical properties! Anything that can keep my burrito’s fresh is close to god!! What channel is it on? I must buy!

[blythevatali]

What kind of magic properties are we talking? I don't know if I want to store my food in magical items, I feel like that could end badly. Like all I wanted was a bite of this leftover lasagna and suddenly I'm shrinking like Alice in Wonderland. It's on QVC.

[blythevatali]

Tv at 6am...

[hadley-masters]

Infomercials are strange in that they’re ridiculous and over the top trying to sell items that are not usually worth the prices they’re sold for, and yet somehow you seem to find yourself drawn into watching the, when you can’t sleep. There was one from when I was younger that I would watch so often that I actually memorized the catchphrase. “Set it and forget it.”

[blythevatali]

Oh I vaguely remember that one. It just boggles my mind that these commercials actually appeal to people. Like the folks who go "I have to put my credit card in a block of ice in the freezer so I don't use it." Seems like an awful lot of effort to expend, and really you only need to know the numbers on the card...that doesn't really keep you from anything.

[blythevatali]

Tv at 6am...

Is mostly full of very strange infomercials. There's a lady with way too much eyeliner on the television trying to sell me what is supposed to be very special tupperware containers, though they like quite mediocre to me.

[blythevatali]

Blythe and Adra

[adrasteiacurth]

I get ugly red spots if I am under the sun without sunscreen within an hour flat. I think my parents forgot to tell me that not only we’re half Greek… we’re also part vampires. It’s ridiculous how pale I am. 

You people and your biological make up to withstand heat and UV rays. Tsk.

[blythevatali]

I'm Italian, don't hate me because I won the biology lottery. We'll just keep you doused in sunscreen and then you'll be fine. Oh you're not that pale...I mean an albino would be paler than you are so take comfort in that. I guess this means you wouldn't want to accompany me to the beach.

[sabratlas]

Blythe + Atlas

[sabratlas]

I write almost everything. I’ve been stuck on a poem kick recently but I have an idea for a fiction novel in the works. Kind of a modern day Bonnie and Clyde story. I understand how that is! I tend to sleep way too much on on my days off. But hey you deserve it for working so hard.

[blythevatali]

I wish I had that kind of gift with words. My thoughts get all jumbled and half the time I can't even put them into a verbal sentence let alone turn them into a cohesive story. Modern day Bonnie and Clyde...now that sounds intriguing. Lots of people work hard, I'm nothing special. I do need to learn to start leaving the house more. Me and that whole socializing thing aren't getting along all that well.

[blythevatali]

Blythe and Sparrow

[dawn--sparks]

No. We’re old. Just face it. We’re crotchety and old.

[blythevatali]

S'cuse you, I'm not crotchety...at least...not on...um...okay, you're right, I'm old and crotchety. But I've been that way my whole life. I was born to be the old guy shaking his cane at yelling at kids not to walk on his lawn.

[sabratlas]

Blythe + Atlas

[sabratlas]

I’m doing well. I’ve actually been pretty busy this past week. I’ve taken on more shifts then usual and I’ve been writing up a storm. I haven’t had time to do much, but I’m getting a lot done and making some money so it’s not so bad. Enjoy your days off, I’m sure they don’t come that often with your line of work. Relax to the max man.

[blythevatali]

Hey that's good, gotta cling to that creative wave when it comes, yeah? What sort of stuff do you write? I don't know, days off just remind me how much I don't have a social life. I mostly just sleep and feel utterly useless.

[blythevatali]

Blythe and Adra

Why are you out and about in this heat? Won’t you get sunburnt? Or is that just me… 

I'm not sure how delicate your fair skin is, Adra, but I'm usually free from the threat of sunburn unless I'm outside for like 9 hours or something.

[nikkihuntington-deactivated2014]

Oh, believe me, I have to. But I just ain’t.

[blythevatali]

Everyone has to be strong in order to survive, but what I mean is that you don't have to be strong in the atypical way people think you should be. 

[blythevatali]

Blythe and Sparrow

[dawn--sparks]

28 as of September 22nd. God I’m getting old… How about yourself Sir Brave Knight?

[blythevatali]

28 isn't that old, and you could pass for early twenties still. Me? I'm 25, slowly working my way up the age ladder.

[le-hipster-girl]

[nikkihuntington-deactivated2014]

I— Sometimes it’s really just so hard being tough. I don’t… I mean, it’s hard being any kind of shit.

[blythevatali]

Being...tough? Sure...sure that's hard sometimes. But the upside is you don't have to be tough or anything.

[olanderkvist-deactivated2015021]

LA

It’s true, you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. Thankfully I’ve returned and everything is the same as when I left. Oh, how I’ve missed it/you all.

[blythevatali]

I feel like stepping out of LA must feel like visiting a whole new world. LA is it's only little universe, a bubble if you will. I'm sure you were missed as well.

[blythevatali]

Blythe and Sparrow

[dawn--sparks]

Some people call it rude. I call it brave. If you have the balls to ask a woman her age then you have the balls to do most things on this earth.

[blythevatali]

That is a very inspiring sentiment. So how old are you, then?