Matter, Energy, and Life of Michaela A. Castello.

Category: Long Reads

Stories that take a bit longer to get through.

  • Fetch Quests

    My friends who play RPGs will be familiar with the concept of “fetch quests.” For the rest of you, they’re sort of in the same family as a MacGuffin, that largely interchangeable noun valued by a story’s characters in order to drive the plot. In games, the character must go out and collect an arbitrary…

  • Urine Output

    In the hospital we care a lot about urine. While we no longer taste the sweetness of diabetes mellitus compared to the flavorless diabetes insipidus, we measure urine output (UOP), volume (per kilo per hour), color, red cells, white cells, nitrites, bacteria… Pee-related reasons for sticking around the hospital range from the anatomic (a kid…

  • Critical Care

    Michael rides in an ambulance for the first time as an adult and learns from some of the most competent people in the children’s hospital.

  • Leveling Up

    If there’s anyone left still following along after all the extended silences and affirmative responses to the “are you still in school” question, it’s time to check in with what I’m doing now. While I did, in fact, graduate with some degrees a while back there’s still a long way to go on the path…

  • Lego Rediscovery

    For some time now I have had a goal of transporting my Lego collection from its storage location at my mom’s house to my current place of residence. This past weekend, I made the beginnings of progress during a brief stop through Maryland. When I arrived at her house, my mom had kindly gathered all…

  • Type I Hypersensitivity

    I had another allergic reaction, once again after specifically inquiring  about a dish’s peanut content. I noticed suspiciously peanut-like “macadamia nut” pieces that tasted an awful lot like peanuts to my companion, but after being assured they were not peanuts, the first bite determined that was a lie. Perhaps it was the sauce? I haven’t seen…

  • Welcome to San Diego

    Moving here has been less than smooth, but in my first week it really went off-script. It started well enough, with our friends Jon and John graciously helping us load the U-Haul late into the night. Jon even came with us the following morning to take a vanload of stuff down and unload said truck.…

  • End of the End of the End

    Graduation. An event that had been so far off for so long, my dazed mind refused to believe it could actually be happening. And yet, here it was, a weekend of visitors and ceremonies and celebrations swirling around me in a blur of regalia and purple orchid leis.  As with everything else in this eight-year…