Nom Nom

There come moments for all of us when we wonder what happened to the human race. While it is acceptable and part of the norm to eat human flesh in certain parts of the world, it is generally frowned upon here.

You're called in to the emergency room late at night, or early in the morning. Hell, it really doesn't matter what time of day it is for this to be made ridiculous. The consulting physician on the phone begins the story by telling you, "I have this guy from prison. . ." You know at this point the sky is the limit, or is it that the bottom of the barrel is the limit?

"So these two guys were fighting." I figure they are in prison so weapons are out of the picture. But these are the kind of people who are far from powerless. "This guy here got bit by the other."

Really? Bit? My wife asked me if it was a zombie. But sure enough, this guy's eyelids on one side had been bitten clean off.

He was subsequently discharged from prison into our care. Concerned much?

Stripped

Believe it or not, there is one thing about not matching in a fellowship that is almost as bad as not matching in the first place.

As a resident, I am required to be at work a minimum amount of time over the course of a given time period. This sort of goes without making any explanation as to why; it's obvious. That is why even the ladies in the throws of residency have to be careful about their vacation planning when expecting.

I was told initially that we were "allotted" a certain amount of days for interviews and related activities when needed. What was never specified was how much. Apparently it was far less than the number of days I required for interviews. So, at one point, my boss says to me, "What are we going to do about all these interviews and your time off?"

I wanted to say, "I don't know, deal with it I guess." But that wasn't enough. After further discussion with someone higher on the chain, it was decided I needed to go on these interviews but that my remaining vacation time for the year would be used up. There was even speculation that vacation during my chief year would have to be used. Thank God that last part didn't happen.

So the worst part?  I now know I really can't take any vacation until the next interview season. That's near to ten months without any vacation.

Ten, long, months. And interviews are anything but vacation.

The Matthew Broderick Similarity

If you're looking for one, so am I.

If you have followed by Facebook posts at all, you may recall a post I made some time ago about a particular lady's nugget of a support (I think).  It was during a flight home, I think from Seattle. We were making our descent into Phoenix for my connecting flight and her home airport. We started talking about our recent travels. She was a registered nurse who had taken her career into the educational route and was returning from attending some sort of educational conference. I obviously told her I was interviewing for fellowship positions.  As I had said to so many others previously, I explained that I only hoped all the traveling wasn't in vain.

Her statement of support:
"Well, I'm sure you'll do just fine. You have that whole Matthew Broderick thing going on."

I was unsure how to respond. What exactly did she mean? Were she and Matthew good ol' Skyping buddies, or what?

Was it the young Ferris style with a laissez faire outlook on all of life? I sure hope not, or at least that is definitely not how I wanted to come off during a single interview.

Was it a piss-poor attempt and being sexy with stubble facial hair and mad side burns? Again, not how I wanted to come off. And, oh yeah, I can't.



Perhaps it was a hidden appetite for Sarah Jessica Parker. Nope, don't have one of those. Did somebody say, "horse face?"

No matter. My apparent Matthew Broderick likeness didn't aid me any.

Another Update

You've probably noticed well before now that it has been a very long time since I have blogged about much of anything - nearly four months to be more exact. Clearly it is not as though nothing has happened in that period of time. I just haven't taken the time to write about it all.

The last time I made an appearance with a blog post I was buried deep in the planning and coordinating of a string of interviews in pursuance of a fellowship. That has all obviously since come to an end. The match day was held sometime in April and the news I got was not that unexpected: I didn't match. I interviewed at ten programs (seven in person and three via Skype) and still didn't manage to land a position anywhere. I made multiple statements beforehand about this very real possibility. I was told over and over that surely I wouldn't have a problem and it was just a matter of where I would go. I don't feel it's fair for me to sit here and say, "I told you so," but in all actuality, I did. And it wasn't a lack of self esteem. A bad applicant doesn't interview at half the programs, and it's not like out of 50+ applicants for 20 positions there were 20 good applicants and 30+ bad ones. More like 10 bad ones and 40+ good ones. I don't yet know the official numbers as they aren't posted yet, but I'm not naive.

I was beat down for a day but then got over it. I will apply again. This year I will not only look at 2014 ASOPRS fellowship programs but also seek non-ASOPRS fellowships which may start in 2013 or 2014. We will just have to see.

What else? OKAPs came and went again this year. Resident's Day came and went. Got a paper published. Working on a few other things academically. Busy around the house. The usual. I expect to be writing more frequently again. At least for a while.

It always sounds good in the beginning. . .