Waiting, Hoping, Praying..

I took the qualifying examinations for pre-residency at my hospital of choce last Saturday, and the guy from the Medical Education department told me that they would be turning over the applicants' paper to the respective departments and I would just be texted next week or the first week of October if I was scheduled for interview (which meant that I passed the exam)..

It's amazing how time flies. It seems only yesterday when I was in a similar situation while I was applying for NeuroPsych pre-residency, although I don't recall ever being worried during the entire application process. I guess this was probably due to the fact that I was scrambling for requirements and didn't have time to be worried or to think about the possibility of my application not being accepted..

Hmmm, now that I've thought about it, last year I was driven by a sense of destiny, that it was something I was really meant to do. My idealism was running at an all-time high during those days, and I felt that I could take whatever they throw at me. Well, that really wasn't far from the truth, as the workload was bearable and I was fully prepared to go the distance and finsh the entire month of every-other-day duties. However, fate had other things in mind, and when the idealism fizzled away, I found myself searching for something very different.

Well, I've had my year off, and what a wonderful year it has been. :D Maybe it's just me, but I feel like I've had a unique opportunity to see the "other side of the fence" that people don't normally get to experience when they immediately proceeed with residency. In the lingo of Psychiatry, I was able to "satisfy certain needs and desires" which I may have been repressing due to the demands of my training. Finally, I was able to let loose and live life the way wanted to (which basically consists of lazing around and going places on my own , a luxury that used to be hard to come by, while using my miniscule amount of hard-earned cash) :P I know I've already mentioned the stuff I was able to do this year in a previous post, so I won't delve into that any more.

Fast-forward one year, and here I am, hoping to be a pre-resident once again, and this time it's for keeps! But until that fateful text arrives, there's nothing left to do but wait, hope, and pray... :(

Kape't Burrito

Had dinner with the Brotherhood a while ago at Mexicali in Promenade. Although we weren't complete, it was still loads of fun. :P It' has been approximately 5 years since we last convened the brethren court, and Joel was still absent 'coz he had to fly to Europe (Rich!). Wes was just caught up in a new project he's working on, so its all good.

Although a total of 4 of us attended the meet, there were only 3 present at any given time, since Ced had to leave before the legal eagle arrived (a couple of hours late due to heavy EDSA traffic). :D

It was a blast hanging out with these guys again. Every time we get together, it's as if nothing's changed and we were all back in Grade School again, laughing like there's no tomorrow. :D

As the evening wore on, a question emerged over cups of Figaro coffee which remained unanswered at the conclusion of the session:

"What is a Kolat, and why the hell would you want to assassinate it?"

Hopefully, this mystery would be resolved at the next convention.. :P

BrainiaxMD's Onion Soup

Tried something classier this time around. :P No picture though, 'coz I forgot to buy batteries for the camera.

Ever since I tasted French Onion Soup at some Italian (huh?) resto in Rob Galleria, it got me thinking that, "hey, I could do that!". I forgot this impulse after a while, but it came back to me recently and I looked up recipes online for my little experiement.

It tasted great, but lacked the mozerrella cheese and the croutons since I was on a budget and we didn't have the luxury of an oven. Still, I guess it was ok. Not bad for an amateur chef wannabe.  :P Here is the humble recipe which I have devised after drawing from the different ideas available on the web:

4 medium-sized onions, sliced thinly
approx 2 tbsp butter
4 cups water
2 pcs Knorr beef cubes (wala akong mahanap na beef stock eh :P)
1/2 cup white wine
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Let onions fry in butter for around 5 minutes until they become soft and translucent. In a separate pot, dissolve the broth cubes in water and put in the flour while the water is not yet hot so that the flour dissolves evenly. When the onions are done, transfer them to the pot and place all the other ingredients as well. Let boil for around 15 mins under low to medium heat and voila! Fancy-ass resto-quality soup! :D

Missing my friends...

All my life, I've basically regarded myself as a loner, which was brought about by numerous circumstances that happened along the way, most of them beyond my control..

I recall being very shy and withdrawn. I had trouble socializing and shunned new acquaintances. I just kept a small circle of very close friends that I grew up with, some of whom I consider my closest friends to this very day. I never really expected to go beyond that, until I graduated from high school..

Things started to change during college. I don't know if it was the new environment, or the new bunch of people that I interacted with, but for some reason, I finally felt that I was generally welcome. The friends I made in college helped my strip away the protective wall I had surrounded myself with. I realized that not everyone was out to get me, and that the world was a fun place after all. :D

In fact, I would say that the best year of my life so far would be my MedTech Internship year, which was the year that (in my opinion) was the year I finally broke out of my shell and started learning how to "live", but that's a story for another time.. :P

Medical school was a little different, what with all the seriousness and the competitive atmosphere typical of any respectable academic institution. Despite this, I managed to forge friendships there as well, which were tempered by the fires of Clerkship and Internship.

It just dawned on me yesterday that our paths are now truly diverged, given the varied career decisions we have made. I mean, last year was a different story, when we were all planning for taking residency immediately after the boards, and most of us expected to be training alongside one another at UST. However, things don't always work out the way you planned it, and now as I stand at the beginning of a freshly-hewn path, I look back and remember with a slight tinge of sadness the friends I've left behind..

I'm sure that I will make new acquaintances and friends should I get accepted to my current hospital of choice, but nothing would be able to replace all that we have been through.