It's true....

Yesterday (precisely the 1st of September), I was dog-sitting Lefty again, as Kyla and Ben went to a wedding in Palo Alto and Kate's still out of town. What did I (generally a fairly responsible person) realize, while chillin' out with the pooch? That I hadn't paid my rent for the month! Yikes!!!!! I quickly checked my bank account to make sure I had enough to write a quick check (glad that UC Davis payday had come precisely at the same time:)) and, since I figured that Lefty (and I too!) could do with some additional exercise, decided to just walk the mile and a half or so to my place with the intent to just pop in, write a quick check, drop it in my landlord's mailbox, and head back to Kate's. This did not work out quite as planned.

When I arrived at the "outer" door to my four-plex building, I inserted the key, opened the door, tried to remove the key...... and couldn't. This was very puzzling to me, until I realized that I had inserted the WRONG key into my outside door lock-- the one to the hospital bike cage where, when I have to go to work there (rather than at the VA where I am currently), I lock my seat-leash-sporting-bike. The wrong key opened the door just fine (weird...). But then it jammed.

Who would have thought this was possible?! I spent about 10 minutes of frustration trying to jiggle it out of the lock before I admitted defeat and, sheepishly, decided to call Paul (landlord) to come bail me out. If only I hadn't tried to pay my rent without delay (he's very nice, though, and probably wouldn't have even cared if it was a bit late). Anyway, he came with some pliers, as well as some tartness...

"Aren't you a doctor or something?!" he said with a grin. "How'd you manage to do this?!"

Me (in my head): "Umm... I guess it's because there are no not-inserting-and-jamming-wrong-keys-in-doors tests you have to pass before graduating medical school."

Me (aloud). "I'm just not sure. I just, hurriedly, shoved the wrong key in" (in my current trend of doing everything very hastily).

Paul: "How badly do you need this (wrong) key?" he asked.

Me: "Well--I think I could get another one without a problem" (although this would have meant that, until I made it over to transportation services or wherever, I'd have to risk parking my seat-leash-sporting bike out in the open rather than in the uber-safe bike cage).

Fortunately, with just a quick yank with the pliers, he got the key out (without damage- cool!).

"Why don't you put that one on a different key chain from now on?" he suggested.

"Good plan," I responded (as Lefty and I made our embarrassed exit back to Kate's house). Yeah, I'm a doctor.

Anyways, there was that, and there are other things possible that I didn't think were so:

• It is possible for me, even when sleep-deprived, to stay awake at an evening movie! Amy and I went to see Becoming Jane the other night (good flick!), and I made it through without nodding off even once!
• It is possible to make it through two weeks of a rotation without breaking down. Yes, folks. I am halfway through my first Medicine month and I haven't cried even ONCE!
• It is possible for Tia to have a bad attitude! I finally got a chance to catch up with her today, and she's even having a tough time staying positive during residency in Boston. It sounds rough-- she seems to be working even longer hours than I am, and also dreads going in, dreads taking call, thinks every day about how glorious life would be to not be a resident any more, etc. I can't picture Tia down or bitter or miserable. Shows what residency can do to a (extremely positive) person (which makes the rest of us doomed!).
• It is possible for my reading of choice to be reduced to two types of materials: People magazine (I am now obsessed with the Jolie-Pitt clan!) and the blue Pocket Medicine book that every intern and medicine resident carries around. I can't even remember the last book I read, it was so long ago :(

Yes, anything is possible...