Ok, you are probably wondering, "RP, you've always been nuts, why are you suddenly looking for sanity now?" And I have to admit, that is a darn good question...one I should ask the team of therapists it will take to put me back together after my next decision.
I, RP, have made the most gut wrenching, terror inducing decision man (or woman) has ever known. Am I starting a family? Marrying my favorite baristo-boy from Starbucks (Hi Joe!) and running away to Columbia to start my own coffee business? Perhaps taking a page out of Blast from the Past and building my very own fallout shelter in my parents basement and locking myself in there for the next 30 years? Nope, well, the last one was close enough, but no, it's scarier. I have decided to aim for med school. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I desire to work with that gelatinous goo filled, puss oozing, fecal matter storing organism we fondly call the human body. Yummy. Nothing says pee-on med student like a 56 hour day filled with rectal exams and foot fungus.
So why am I doing this? Obviously it isn't for the glory, something I never really understood- why are physicians glorified? If the above paragraph didn't get the message across, they have a pretty icky job when you get down to it. Rewarding but icky. Anyway, I digress. I am doing it because it feels right, because I believe in bettering the lives of others in a purposeful way, because I know the value of having a physician that treats you like a complete human being instead of a set of symptoms. I want to work in rural communities that have limited access to good health care. Heaven help me, I probably wont be making enough once I am practicing to actually pay off my massive student loan debts...why can't I be interested in becoming a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills? Ah well. Wish me luck! :-)
Edit: I thought I should clarify, since some of my dear readers (yes, one of the two) believed my decision to go to med school was influenced by my experience of being denied state funded health care (see post below). I am not sure what the connection is there (I can't really treat myself as a physician...) but I thought I would clarify that I actually began this journey 2 years ago in 2009, but got scared away by the MASSIVE student loans needed to complete med school.
