2010

It's 2011? Really? This seems, for some reason, much more surreal than most other changes in the calendar. I'm not sure what it is, but something about "2011" seems much more futuristic and far-off and other than 2010 or 2009 before it. Or maybe it's just that after 2011 comes 2012 and in 2012 I'll actually have someone put green hood over my head and call me "doctor" and expect me to actually know something.

Either way, with the passing of time and dropping of the ball (even with all of the absolutely horrifying musical acts it entailed--I mean seriously, was anyone else watching the washed up awfulness that was the New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys mix last night? I mean, how old did those guys look?) comes time for reflection on what has passed, and what will come. Sometimes it's actually hard to remember what happened a full year ago and remember that it actually was just a year ago that you were doing those things, after all.

So, in 2010:

• January started with Pathology and lots of it. That's most of what I remember--studying for a shelf and being very beaten down with it, and relieved when it finally ended.
• February and March were basically just school, with its studying and whatnot.
• In March, D and I took a fabulous spring break trip to Vienna, Austria as a delayed gratification gift for our first wedding anniversary (the previous June). Even though we were both sick by the end of it, it was fabulous--D's first time, my second, to what has quickly become our favorite city in the world.
• April and May, if I remember correctly, weren't incredibly exciting other than the weather got warmer and school got less difficult. The first weekend of May I took my last final of med school and drove home with the windows down and Sweet Caroline blaring and good times never seemed so good. Of course, the next day I had to start studying for the boards.
• The month of May I spent locked up studying for boards. That is all.
• In June I spent 3 glorious weeks on vacation, including a week in Florida with family.
• July kicked off the insanity of third year, with a six weeks spent on OB/GYN rotation, which I enjoyed somewhat (labor and delivery was fun, oncology not so much). I ruled out OB as a future specialty.
• In mid-August I switched to Psychiatry with child Psych, which I really enjoyed (mainly because of the kids and the people I worked with. We had great hours and a great team, but at the end of six weeks I was bored. Definitely not being a psychiatrist.
• At the end of September I started Internal Medicine with a month on wards at the VA. I had a good team of residents and a scary attending, got along ok, and tried to convince myself I liked it. Some things I liked, others I didn't...I went back and forth for a long time. November I spent on Infectious Disease and enjoyed my HIV patients a lot. December I was on endocrine and decided that Diabetic patients were what probably tipped the scales away from Internal medicine for me.

And now for 2011:

• I get to start my year on a pediatrics rotation, which I am very much looking forward to.
• This year, I will start applying to residency positions, and hopefully begin interviewing in November and December.
• I plan on surviving surgery.
• I will (hopefully) escape for a bit to the beach.
• I will celebrate my third wedding anniversary

Can't wait.