Three days.

Greetings from the balmy shores of the great Lake Michigan! I know it's balmy because I went for a walk outside and still have all my appendages (but it's been two hours and I still can't feel my thighs after the -20F windchill). It's these types of excursions that set the adventurers and explorers apart from the other people. I think I'm an other people.

I skipped New Year's Resolutions this year - I didn't have to make any. Instead, I chose to put myself in a position free of familiarity, so I didn't have to commit to making any changes on my own.
I'm not much into change, especially when it comes in refrigerator-sized packages. I deal much better with small amounts of change, like "ohmygoodness, look at this new salsa flavor they've got at Walmart!" That's about all the excitement I can handle (and trust me, it's a lot of excitement).

I spent New Year's Eve in a sleeping bag on the floor, surrounded by boxes of my belongings. New Year's Day brought a team of elves (they DO exist! But this variety lacked pointy ears or boxes of cookies) who helped me clean and sort and settle my new digs. Since then, I've set up my deluxe air mattress and spent a few nights discovering that plastic air-filled mattresses are excellent conductors of body heat when placed directly on cold wooden floors. I sleep better now that I've assumed princess-and-the-pea status with four blankets underneath me and two on top.

a sELFie with my New Year's crew!

I've now conquered three days "on the job" as a newly minted physical therapist. I use "on the job" loosely as I've been in a different location each day (and a fourth spot tomorrow), sitting on my keester and being oriented to policies and manuals and organization infrastructure. I finally met some potential co-workers today, but have yet to meet people who want me to therapize them. What I did get was a small chunk of the competency reviews: a heavy stack of papers filled with tests and reviews and checksheets. The majority of my time over the next two weeks will be spent meeting with members of the rehab team and having them judge my proficiency on various clinical skills. They tell me it isn't all that bad, but I can't help but have flashbacks to the OSCEs of May 2013 (pretty sure those made the cover of Life).

***

Apartment preview

I'm really glad I have cumin. Cumin is a magic seasoning that makes all things better. Which is really great as I wait for all the t's to be crossed before I get a paycheck and can start on my wishlist of Lamborghinis and... other expensive things (Ok, I don't know what expensive tastes like - I had to look up how to spell Lamborghini. My actual list includes a kite and a foam roller...and more cumin). My biggest surprise of 2015 is how much moving costs. I swear, all I've bought is a shower caddy, a shelf, and some cleaning supplies, and my hollow-log cash stash is down to the mildewy stuff. My garden produce isn't really taking root (can't afford MiracleGro), so I am repurposing leftovers. Cumin is the magic that makes it all work...


Moral of the hodge-podge story: I'm excited to start therapizing. Let's get these hurdles outta the way!