Remembering Boredom

I am stressed. out.

I just took a midterm tonight, finished the first part of a group project over the weekend, and have 3 more projects in my lap. I have class 3 nights a week, an online class, church obligations, and sorority paperwork.

A year ago, I came home every night unless I had social plans. I'd get to make dinner and watch TV. I was really bored and felt directionless.

While I'm glad to be learning new skills and to have some direction, it's hard to remember what was so bad about not having stuff I had to do at night.

I wish my pride could handle being a law firm support staffer in the long term. I could work 35 hour weeks, have great pay and benefits, and spend my paycheck on travel and designer shoes. Sadly, I do want a career of some sort. Le sigh.

At least as a student I get spring break - 8 days until take-off!

Nerdy Fights

Last night, I texted Mr. (who was in one of the classroom buildings studying for the oral exam he had today) that I was going to bed, and as it sent, he opened the door. Already 11:30, I was cutting it close if I wanted to get 6 hours of sleep. But we hung out and chatted, which was great. Then, as I was heading to bed, I mentioned that Obama had made an offensive comment on Leno. This prompted Mr. to turn it on to see for himself.

We saw the gaffe, and we also heard him make a few other statements, which made me think of another topic closely related and thus spurred what turned into a 2-hour argument about the economy, investment banking, AIG, Citigroup, employee compensation, contract breaches, and the long-term macroeconomic impact of short-term legislation. All of a sudden, it was 1:55am, and my alarm was set for 6. Luckily, by that point we actually achieved a shared position (sort of).

Now, Mr. and I have had many a "nerdy fight" as my friends call them. But typically, they just end with me changing the subject because we're out in public and I'm afraid we're making our companions (usually STM & her hubby) uncomfortable. Clearly this is a good move on my part as it apparently takes two hours for us to quasi-agree.

That said, it was fun to finally go through it all. I love being challenged intellectually and by not giving up, I didn't have to concede every point. I do still have to work on my strategy, though, so that I'm not always playing defense. I think I might mimic some of his techniques (like challenging every statement to ask for specific statistics I know he doesn't know)...

Match Day

In 52 weeks, Mr. and I will find out where we'll be living for the following 5 years of our lives. For those of you who are MS4's or MS4 spouses, I hope you're out celebrating (and even more so that you feel the desire to celebrate)!

Sadly, my cousin (an MS4) is not celebrating at the moment. She matched at her #7 program and is considering switching to a less competitive specialty to get out of it. (I'm not sure if we currently know if that's an option).

I can only imagine what she's feeling right now.

However, I am making a mental list of cities I do NOT want to move to, and making sure they're not on Mr.'s list. You feel very out of control with the match, but the one thing you have power over is your list. I knew it before, but it's obvious to me now that you have to be okay with every program listed.

Roommates Part II

Last fall, I wrote about how Mr. and I felt like roommates and that was about it. I'm under the impression that from MS3 throughout the end of medical training, there are those killer rotations during which you simply don't see your spouse. This, not surprisingly, seems to be one of them.

Mr. is finishing his surgery rotation, and as the shelf exam draws nearer, I see him less and less. The last time Mr. and I ate in the same place at the same time was Saturday evening, and that was just snacks, not a meal. Since I have class tonight and tomorrow and a friend in town on Friday, I expect the earliest Mr. and I will share a meal will be dinner on Saturday. Maybe.

However, unlike last September, it's not so bad. Sure it'd be great if I could see him more, but the important part is appreciating each other when we do see one another. It's really just an attitude adjustment for both of us. Instead of spending our 5 minutes that we see each other each day talking about bills or those dirty dishes in the sink, we ask how the other is doing. We each seek the other's advice. We remember that we're on the same team. So, even though we may be living like roommates or merely ships passing in the night, we feel like the united married couple we are.

(And it's a lot easier for me to tackle those dirty dishes in the sink when I know Mr. and I are on the same team.)

Away We Go

Last week, Mr. turned in the second of his two away rotation (aka visiting clerkship) applications for a couple programs in the midwest. It's a little nerve wracking because to best guarantee a spot for yourself, you have to provide alternative preferences. But when applying for more than one away, you have to make sure that you're not setting yourself up for a schedule conflict. After all, it can't look good for a program to accept you for a visiting clerkship and for you to then turn them down.

At the same time, you don't want to find you've been rejected by a program only 2 months before you had anticipated starting it. I guess I'll have to let you know in a couple months how it works out for Mr. His primary concern right now is that the registrar's office mail his applications in a timely fashion. I feel this may require a lot of follow up, both with the registrar and with the visiting program site directors.