island in the sun

...err, well kind of. i'm off to warmth!! ohmygosh i'm so excited. i'm at the airport, it's 6 in the morning, about to catch a flight from Chicago to LA. woohoo! althought it's going to be crazy when i get there, at least i'll want to be outside.

i left the house yesterday to go to my interview and there were blankets of snow on every horizontal surface- it had snowed the night before and it was absolutely gorgeous and peaceful. my friend miriam admitted that it was gorgeous- the first snow, no wind, no city nastiness all mixed up in it. i almost left the house without socks because i figured 'eh, i was just going from the car to the hospital' but my friend made me wear socks- i'm so glad she did! my toes still managed to become little frozen sausages.

the interview was a mix. i don't think the program is for me, but the interview itself was excellent. sinai is on the border between the neightborhoods poorest hispanics and the poorest blacks in chicago. it's essentially a county hospital and serves the indigent. this isn't the reason it's not for me though. basically, the night before, at the dinner, the residents came by and that was cool. there was a girl from hawaii and i got all excited and introduced myself 'hi i'm haane! i go to UH' and she gave me absolutely NO LOVE. i could have said 'fuck you, you fucking fuck' and her response probably could have been the same. eeww! then the whole time she and the other couple residents were complaining about their work, then they'd have all these inside stories, and the whole time, me and the other 5 candidates had to do that fake smiley thing like we were really interested. everytime i'd ask questions, they'd evade them- i have tons of questions! i mean, this is 5 years of my life!! so...that was that. then this one residents shows up with his sister (who's not even in the program or affiliated) and tells me i'm crazy for coming to chicago from hawaii (which i get ALL THE FUCKING TIME- 'why ARE you here??!- which mabye is a sign that i shouldn't be here??), and she not only tells me i'm crazy like affectionately, but tells me as if i'm really crazy!! anyway...so i got home kinda with a bad feeling in my mouth, go to bed, and miriam, who is so great, wakes up early to drive me through snow and traffic to the hospital. we get there, and the standard introductions happen. the program director talks to us, and he's wierd. he says, in his weirdness, 'i'm not here to sell you the program', and when i ask questions, like standard, valid questions 'what are your board pass rates?'- super improtant!- he doesn't know the answer and essentially says 'it's not a reflection of the program, it's a reflection of the individual' and gets all defensive. holy shit. anyway...then we sit around, which is standard, while we wait for our interviewers, and apparently...2 interviewers had 'forgotten' about today. i mean, wtf??!?!?! i was upset but figured, hey just roll with it. so she finds 'backup' interviewers- the woman in charge is so so nice by the way, and working her ass off- and my interviewer comes and takes me to the room. so the whole time, he's falling asleep!!! terrible form.


i do have to admit, though, the questions were the best questions yet. they gave us scenarios and asked us real questions. such as 'what would you do if... you didn't agree with your chief resident about the management of the patietn you were about to take to surgery and he hands you the scalpel?' or 'what are you reading now and teach me about it', or 'tell me story about yourself that best exemplifies you as a person' or 'tell me a story that shows a time when you were out of your normal character'. TOUGH questions but i appreciate the challenge to really think on my feet. the assistant program director has a masters in educaton or something so is into these standardized questions. anyway...

one more thing. during the intro, the program director kept on saying 'it's very important that you talk to the residents- that's the most important part about this interview- so you can tell if it's a match for you'...except at lunch, there were 1 or 2 residents there only, AND the whole time they were talking to the attnedings, not even available to us or iterested in what we had to ask or say or offer.

terrible.

the good news is that the interview day ended at 12:20pm. the good news is that by knowing what i don't want, now i know what i want. there's other small but significant things about the program too- like they don't give you time or funding for conferences, the hospital is really old- like asbestos old....the area is dangerous. anyway.

with all that said and done, i had the whole afternoon and evening. miriam and i ended up chillin at her house in the afternoon, then bundling up and heading to a craft fair. when she said we're going to one, my initial impression was 'uh...okay' and i envisioned like felt cut out christmas ornaments and old ladies with knit hats. but just rolled with it. the craft fair was AWESOME!! creative, hip jewelry and clothing, stationary, bags. very very HIP and cool. i loved it. i snacked on tandori chicken and rice and miriam and i spaced out and wandered.

we then met beany, another wonderful college girlfriend of mine, at 'spoon', this excellent thai restaurant. it was so so good to see her! i hadn't seen her since graduation and it still felt like no time had passed. she and her husband of two months were so fucking cute.

so yeah! i was exhausted at this point! not sure why- i had slept the whole day prior and had only half a day of interviews. i seriously think i have seasonal affective disorder. i'm not depressed, but i do think i rely heavily on the sun for energy. plus i hadn't exercised for a couple days, and i usually do SOMETHING every day. it's just that the cold and snow make me want to not do anything or go anywhere!

so..i'm stoked to go to LA. i'll be there for a week. a week of madness.
today 9:30 am: arrive LAX
drive to Santa Barbara
arrive at Aunt Billie's house- 10 miles fr Santa Barbara
get ready to go to dinner
Drive to Santa Barbara, have dinner with the residents
tomorrow, Mon: interview at SB
Mon afternoon: drive to LA
Mon night: dinner with Kaiser residents
Tues: Kaiser interview on Sunset Blvd
Wed: Board exam! Step 2 CS.
Thurs: drive to Riverside (2 hours)
Thurs night: dinner with Loma Linda Residents
Fri: Loma Linda interview
Sat: break!
Sun: fly to Colorado
Sun night: dinner w/ colorado residents
Mon: Colorado interview
Mon night: fly to Hawaii!! (via newark....)

phew!