Date: Sun, 31 Dec 1995 09:10:42 -0800 (PST)
From: Peter Fogel <peterf@netcom.com>
Subject: special rave on christmas story

Being that I don't celebrate christmas any more so than any other day, I usually work and get that time and a half money. On christmas day I was working on the intensive locked unit of the psychiatric hospital that I work at. Being short staffed that day, my girlfriend angela (who also loves to rave) was asked to work overtime onto my shift. This was the first time we were working the same shift together on the same unit. :)

One of the younger patients told me she was bored, and said to me "you're my staff person, entertain me." I told her I wasn't there to really entertain her but maybe we could entertain each other with some dance music. From there I got out the boombox, put it in the middle of the unit and popped in a garth tape.

It wasn't long before angela and I had about 90% of the unit dancing. We even got a patient from the unit next door to come over and dance. It was great to see the overweight 55 year old charge nurse come over and dance, saying she hadn't danced in years, and that she should do this more often. It was GREAT! At one point we all naturally formed a circle and danced and the vibe was just about as thick as any rave I've been to. I had a huge smile on my face as I thought to myself I'm raving at work.

Unfortunately I wouldn't feel comfortable having this rave thing at work on any day in front of some of the staff I work with, as i think they might frown upon it. But this day was great, it was nice to see the patients transcend their problems for a while and enjoy life for a while. The dancing in the beginning of the shift created enough positive energy to carry throughout the evening and helped make christmas more enjoyable for all.

happy new year

:)
peter