I’ve got a thing for this nurse. Nope, she’s not one of the many “sexy nurses” who paraded through my neighborhood this past Halloween, but the real deal—and since September she’s been blogging at My Midlife Nursing School Adventures, the tales of a 46-year-old nursing student. This sharp and funny nurse-in-training mixes insider stories about brain surgery with revealing details of day-to-day life (yeah, you do get used to the smell of pee), with a few shots of old-fashioned school girl gossip. All of it from the perspective of a brassy woman who’s seen more in life than most of her much younger classmates, yet is still seeing nursing school through the same virgin eyes as her peers. Her most recent post includes a list of medical terms that describe everyday events and situations. Such as:

bezoar - I have a hair ball
dysgeusia - everything tastes funny
dysmenorrhea - My periods are horrible
epistaxis - My nose is bleeding. AAAAHHH! MY NOSE IS BLEEDING!!
hematuria - there’s blood in my pee
hirsutism - I am a woman with a moustache
menometrorrhagia - I bleed like a stockyard hog
pectus excavatum - I’m a dude who’s chest is caved in instead of out and therefore I never take my shirt off in public
piloerection - I’m so scared that my hair is standing on end

As a blogger, she’s a natural, mixing her personal experience with the macro world of nursing school, and peppering her posts with playful photos and comics. Here’s hoping she turns into an RN who’s just as good. And if you like stories about people in wild professions and/or unusual situations in life, check out the SMITH Diaries, currently featuring the diary of a working dominatrix in New York City.

Classic nurse from Flickr user kafkan.