I am holding on to my optimism for 2013, but barely. It has been a rough few days, and this time I can't blame work.
It all started with a car accident - mine. I live in Miami, so car accidents are not a rarity, and I even picked my current car because I knew at some point it would be involved in an accident. However, I was fairly confident that I would have somebody else to blame - drivers here after all are CRAZY. Unfortunately that is not exactly how the story goes. It was a Sunday afternoon. I was coming home from rounds. I was not on the phone, I was not sleep deprived, I was not running late and no surprise here - stone cold sober. No one cut me off or stopped suddenly in front of me. I hit a support beam next to my parking space - a space that I have been parking in daily for the last 2 1/2 years I must admit. I have no explanation nor excuse.
Fast forward a few days. I finally joined the adults and got a "real" kitchen knife sets for Christmas. These knives are amazing - German, pretty and SHARP. According to the trauma literature, more knife injuries occur with dull rather than sharp knives - I couldn't disagree more. I have stabbed myself, cut a hole in not one but three kitchen towels drying the darn things, and almost sliced off the tip of my pointer finger on my dominant hand! And can I just add that hand injuries which prevent one from scrubbing when one is a surgeon are just a little aggravating.
Monday I had the distinct pleasure to partake of one of the pleasures of citizenship that is jury duty. What frustrates me about jury duty isn't the act itself. I am perfectly happy to fulfill my civic service, and suspect that I would actually find partaking in a real case (as a jurist not a defendant) incredibly fascinating. However, attorneys and doctors don't mix. It is fairly common knowledge that it is incredibly rare - read never - for a doctor to end up on a criminal jury. Rumor has it that prosecutors find us too analytical and thus unpredictable, and defense attorneys supposedly find us too out of touch with the everyday life of their "clientele". Regardless, we never make the final cut. However, that doesn't prevent them from keeping us the whole day and asking us ridiculous questions in a room full of strangers. My favorite exchange on Monday :
Mr. Defense Attorney: "Ms, I mean Dr. Baxter, can doctor's lie?"
Me: "Of course, we are human. All humans are capable of lying"
Mr. Defense Attorney: "But you are scientist, scientist never lie"
Me: "Well I think we know from several front page stories that is not necessarily true"
Mr. Defense Attorney: "Do you think attorneys can lie"
Me: "Absolutely, part of the job I would say"
Mr. Defense Attorney: "no more questions"
Hmmm. Perhaps I am beginning to see why we never get picked.
To add final insult to injury, I decided to have a go at a Cross-Fit work out today. I conveniently chose to ignore a few key facts: not only have I not been working out regularly for about three months, but I haven't ran a step since October! My luck held up of course, and the work out of the day involved multiple 400 m runs, burbees, squat jumps and overhead dumbbell presses. Now there was a time not that long ago that I would have attacked such a workout with glee and asked for more. Today, said workout attacked me and quite honestly kicked my butt. The one thing it did accomplish is motivation. I know that I can be better than today's workout.
I still believe that this is going to be my year. I just have to survive myself first.
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