the underwear drawer

bits and pieces

Remember how, way back in the day, I used to have "bikini briefs," which were little snippets outside of the main body of the journal update about assorted minutiae? Well, this entry is going to be a handful of bikini briefs. Actually, I guess you could say that since my move to Blogger, my entire journal is now bikini briefs. But to dive into it...

Is "Scrubs" never going to be on again? Are "Friends" and "Will and Grace" engulfing that time slot? What gives? How come every time I try to watch "Scrubs," it's something else? Wait, did it change time slots and no one told me? Not Thursdays at 8:30 anymore? Quick, someone give me the answer! I don't watch NBC except for "Scrubs" (or attempting to watch "Scrubs," these days) so if they've been running ads about a schedule change, I'm in the dark.

OK then. Enough about the stupid TV show.

Despite being called in for sick call here and there, I have to say that this block that I'm on (Adolescent Medicine, in case I don't harp on it enough) is ridiculously easy. Today, my schedule is as follows. "Reading" in the morning (they gave us a stack of articles at the start of the block, about drugs and STDs and depression and all those teen things) and then Continuity Clinic this afternoon from 1-5pm. This is my clinic where I see my regular patients, who are, by and large, babies and younger kids. Kind of a relief after four straight days of teenagers. However, many of the parents of these babies are teenagers, so we run into some of the same problems. For example, last week I had a 17 day-old baby who presented with "white dots" in his groin after being born to a mom with herpes. I freaked out and was all ready to send the kid to the ER, but it turned out the white dots were pustules, not vesicles. Pustulosis. Who knew? But anyway, my point being that it is ridiculous and unheard of to not have to leave the house until noon for work your intern year, unless you're doing something like a 1-10pm ER shift. I should be enjoying in, and I am, but there's that tiny little voice in the back of my head screaming at me for being a slacker. What is with all this work guilt?

And next up, two weeks of vacation!

Joe left for work this morning at around 5am and I could barely even wake up to say goodbye. This double-intern schedule is killing us. I just got done talking about how light my block is, he's on the wards doing GI/Liver/Geriatrics. Next up, he's on the wards at [Queens affiliate hospital], I'm on vacation for two weeks and then spend two weeks working nights in the ER. So I'll be awake when everyone else on Earth is asleep, and sleeping when everyone else is awake. That's good for sanity. After that, I'm on Oncology, one of the most grueling blocks of intern year, and he's on vacation for two weeks, then elective. You could not have planned our schedules to be more opposite. Or maybe someone did...I'm starting to become a conspiracy theorist.

We should be able to go out this weekend, though. My institution is opening up our huge new Children's Hospital, and there is some Gala Ball for the Pediatrics Department to celebrate. You know, one of those celebrations that you have to pay $60 a head to attend. Luckily, our department chair, understanding that they don't really pay us all that much, footed the bill for the Peds residents. Free food and drinks! And fun gossip about the various attendings and nurses we see milling about! Woo, good times. The residents are so going to be the bad kids at the party, spiking the punch bowl and hiding in the bathroom to smoke. Um, not that any of us smoke, because smoking is very bad for your lungs, kids. Ahem.

I guess I should figure out something to wear to this thing.