25 months to go, but who's counting

I have 25 months left of residency. That is, 761 days. Approximately. I would make little hash marks on my wall but I might lose my deposit.

The last couple weeks were eventful. In addition to working I managed to sacrifice a lot of sleep to go and have some fun. I saw Ani Difranco in concert at The Moore in Seattle (great venue!). My friend knew her bassist so we got backstage passes and hung out with him after the show. He was a Wesleyan-o-phile so we had lots to talk about! I've scanned our cool backstage passes that had Ani's label logo on it (Righteous Babe records).

I also participated in Dining Out for Life - a fundraising effort where restaurants donate proceeds to HIV/AIDS foundations (nearly 70 restaurants in Tacoma participated and donated 25% of the check). I went out for sit-down Greek (a differentiation they make here since most Greek seems to be take out). I have to say I was actually disappointed. The saganaki wasn't really cooked, just kinda warm around the edges, the grape leaves looked sad, and my veggie Moussaka was kinda tasteless. But the pastry at the end was fabulous. Hard to mess up filo dough and custard, but I could be wrong. It made me miss good, real, Greek food from Greek Town in Detroit!

I also traveled to Seattle for a two-day course for life support certification in obstetrics required for my practice. It was over the weekend which was admittedly lame, but in Seattle which was great. I really loved my time in Seattle. It was so nice seeing cars with liberal bumper stickers, the occasional Jewish star here or there, young alternative rocker couples, gay and straight, with their babies, people commuting on bikes, rollerblades and kayaks (yes, commuting by kayak!). I am ashamed to admit I was depressed coming back to Tacoma. People here are very quiet about their political beliefs, education, Judiasm and sexual orientation. Which is great for them, and I totally respect, but it means that we can't identify each other and things feel very homogeneous in a way that certainly doesn't include any religious, sexual or political minority (or political majority as the case may be). I felt like I fit in in Seattle. It was really a nice feeling and one I kind of forgot about. Now that I remember that feeling, not having it is making me feel restless and irritable.

Next week I return to Motown for my last vacation of intern year. The first half will be in Walled Lake (more or less), the second in Detroit (more or less) and my plans involve a Tiger's game (vs. Red Socks if I'm not mistaken), a rock concert (the Kills !!) at the ever-awesome Magic Stick, catching up with friends and family, and hopefully sleeping a lot and relieving stress as opposed to creating it!