the underwear drawer

i'm not sure what the point of this entry was, except to remind you that we were almost on a reality show once

So one of my partners at work is one of the examiners for the ABA Oral Board exam, and for many years now, he has been giving mock orals to the younger doctors in the practice as preparation for the real thing. This year I'm taking the exam, so he's been very nicely availing me of his time so I can splutter through my various stem questions and clinical scenarios, and revealing to him all sorts of embarrassing deficiencies in my clinical knowledge base, like the fact that I can't remember Thing One about neurosurgical anesthesia, and that I get the effects of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors and anticholinergics all jumbled up every single time.

(Please note, it's mainly the words that get me confused. If I think of the actual drugs and classify them as "green sticker medicine" or "red stripey sticker medicine" I am fine.)

(Apologies to all, the above was some fairly esoteric anesthesia quote-unquote humor. As you were.)

Today I went over to his house after work for another mock oral boards session, and if there's one thing I learned from this--aside from the fact that when it comes to the Boards, pregnancy is a FATAL DISEASE--it's that grown-up people live in nice houses. Man, compared to his house, our house (granted, a rental, so we haven't made much of an effort to decorate) looks like two med school dorms collided with a secondhand toy store. I know we're young and we have little kids and we're going to be moving at some point in the near future anyway and blah blah blah, pick your excuse. But at some point, I feel like we're going to have to start living like grown-ups. When that point will be, I'm not sure. We had our chance when we were being considered for "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," but I don't even think that show exists anymore, so I guess we're just doomed.

So! The Orals Boards. A week and a half from now. It will be good to have them behind me. Passing them would be nice too, because, you know, board certification and whatnot. Which reminds me--oh shit, I have nothing to wear to this exam. Everyone says "business attire" but seriously, everything even vaguely appropriate is at least seven (optimistic fudging of numbers) to twelve (I interviewed for med school in 1998 and have not bought a suit since) years out of date and also somewhere irretrievable, probably stuffed in a box labeled MISC TOILETRIES. I guess I could get some new clothes, but I am loathe to spend the money, especially considering that I may well never wear a suit again. What do I look like, Hillary Clinton?