Busy week.
There was certainly something in the air in class this week, don't know if it was the subject matter, the class, or the folks there for continuing ed. Probably all of the above.
The Pit Boss was engaged as instructor du jour on Monday night and did a fabulous job of teaching. Then there was the table. You see, we have a teaching facility that was once a small elementary school (6 classrooms, library, gym - with tiny kitchen attached so used for lunchroom, and I envy those kids for the fabulous playground they had!). So EMS gets one of the rooms for training. It's your typical classroom, even still has the alphabet tacked up to the walls. (Handily enough, it's also got a long counter down one side with a sink - nice for making coffee and cleaning up!) Due to storage space issues, two walls of the room are covered with cabinets that hold training materials and the equipment stock for all the ambulances and personnel. We've got plastic tables and folding chairs for training arranged generally in a big "U" shape around the room. 15 students, 7 tables, so one table gets 3 people.
Now we've got personalities, all of us. Floyd and I are usually the ones to be counted on to pipe up out of turn with a dry witty comment now and then (and Mr. Medic and/or Van often get in on the act as well). This week was different. Larry, Moe, and Curly at table #1 were in fine form this week. I just sat back and laughed.
Of the three, Morgan is the most vocal. Morgan is taking the class, from what I understand, for the second time. Or at least she took some version of EMT-B in the past. Doesn't seem that she ever practiced, though.
"In my last class they had this guy who came in and talked about all the current methods people are using to overdose. Are we going to have that?"
Pit Boss goes on to explain that things change so rapidly, we would cover some of that as we went along, read EMS journals, etc.
"Well, like this 'Leroy Jenkems' thing..."
Huh?
[Now if you've ever played the online game World of Warcraft, you know what Leroy Jenkins is about - 25 people plotting to get through a long raid dungeon, well 24 actually 'cause Leroy is off cooking chicken while the raid is being discussed. He comes back on, shouts "LEEEEEEROYYY JEHHHNKINS!" and runs in, scattering the plan and getting everyone killed. Great video on YouTube.]
Now back to Morgan and 'Leroy Jenkems'
"So, you take a bottle, fill it up with poo and pee, put a balloon over the top and let it ferment for like a week. Then they inhale it and get high. Supposed to be better than weed."
silence
then the laughter begins
"No, seriously! They see visions!"
I'm crying at this point.
I'm not doubting her story, but we are losing it.
So apparently jenkems hit the world through a documentary on Zambian street children who scraped waste from sewer pipes and huffed the fermentation gasses. (Likely methane with some hydrogen sulfide?) Anyway, when it hit the American scene, the term jekems got mashed up with the WoW Leroy Jenkins reference, and 'Leroy Jenkems' was born.
And following this, the class discussion descended into talk of bath salts, spice, and excrement. What a wonderful EMT class it was.
More on Wednesday night's class later.
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