One Year Later

I can scarcely believe that it was fully a year ago that I endured the Horror that was Match Week--and its aftermath. So much work (and extra work), time, money and travel that culminated in...absolutely nothing. I relied on a few close friends, Ambien and (a metric ton) of beta blockers to get through those ensuing weeks.

I should have bought stock in Kleenex.

And then I was scooped up by then-Pacific Hospital of Long Beach now College Medical Center/Molina Healthcare's family medicine residency and I put down roots in the LBC. 

And lemme tell ya, living here is, shall we say, the tits.

Of all the places I've lived over the years (and I include my vagrant 4th year of medical school in this), Long Beach is by far the best and most livable. It is retardedly expensive, but it's sunny and 75 pretty much every day. I really, really enjoy my colleagues and the cooperative environment we cultivate for ourselves. I don't need a gym membership (which is good because I can't afford one anyway), because I exercise at the beach every day. I don't require an air conditioner, and this winter I never had to turn on my heat. There are 5 airports within an hour (one within 15 minutes) of my house that will take me anywhere and everywhere. The food scene is highly varied and awesome, and I never have to plan my life around weather--unless I need sunscreen.

Most importantly, RDJ lives nearby.

Yeah you do.

And so you can understand the gamut of my emotions when after I had decided I would try again with this Match business and failed--again. I depleted my savings account, spent my vacation days to go on interviews, and withstood the agony of the unending wait...for nothing. So on the one hand, there are all of the aforementioned things that I love about this little urban paradise. On the other hand, I will never go into gyn/onc, and I will never be in charge of an O.R.

And that creates, shall we say, a dissonance.