This is not a post about pathology, medical school, how to become a doctor, or any of that, though it may come out a bit. I feel like I've kind of contributed what I can to that. I tentatively wandered over to Grenada just a little over 15 years ago. Out of school for 11 years. Out of training for about six. Unable to much tell you what I'm doing because HIPAA.
If I follow my family's decent history of longevity if we stay away from cigarettes and guns, I've got about half my life left. In the first half of my life, I learned to speak English, ice skate, ride horses, how to add numbers, semi-socialize, get cootie shots, categorize human and animal bones, enough anatomy to perform professional dissection, learned medicine, pathology, craft beer, hashing, monkey taxonomy, kenpo, avoiding toxic or abusive relationships, guitar, knitting, drawing and a thousand other things.
So what now?
For the uninitiated, into what is baffling Pittsburgh-ese, "N'at" kind of refers to a conglomerate of "etcetera" and "subsequent parts".
I'm in my new house. I'm closer to work, closer to love, and surrounded by things I like. I'm hoping this remains my home until I'm ready to expatriate someplace warm and near a beach. That's what I thought before, of course... final home final man, but let's hope I'm right this time. If not, you'll get more updates on it, I'm sure. Hopefully without vitriol. I'm trying to rid my life of vitriol. Call it the nine thousandth time I've gotten banned from facebook for being at loggerheads with some anti vaxxer or soccer mom or Trump supporter or another, or call it having way too many intrusive thoughts from perceived wrongs, it's pretty exhausting.
What to occupy that time with? That lost time of overeating or dwelling or facebooking or whatever? Everything. I've been obsessively making lists of things I want to do, improve, outdoor things, indoor things, date ideas, stuff out of town, stuff that's seasonal, stuff I already did or things I've never tried. These things range from rooftop bars in NYC with the new man (well.. the 2 year relationship guy) to improving guitar to hunting to foraging to modge podge to journaling to cross country skiing.
It's a long and varied list. It is definitely a short attention span dabbler's list. It seems daunting, but less daunting when I consider I have as much time to nibble each bit as I have the first half of my life. And for most of that time, there weren't youtube videos explaining how to do the things I learned, nor google so that "which species of New World monkey does that again?" required a plunge into the Dewey Decimal system.
My MAIN focus at present is unpacking and organizing all my crap, sorting it, and then mildly Konmari-ing stuff so that I can actually find it and use it.
Other foci:
Guitar: I've been a self and friend taught plucker of acoustic strings and user of cheap theatrical tricks since I was 15. I bought a PRS electric a few years back with the goal of "shredding" if you will, and have not really learned much other than playing it like an acoustic or plugging it into my Xbox. So I'm actually taking classes and learning some (gulp) theory. Stay... heh... tuned.
Reading: I love it and have loved it and it fell by the wayside too many times to the evil tendrils of facebook and reddit. I want it back. I have reading nooks stationed throughout the new house like NY/NJ has train stations.
Journaling: Well, you're experiencing some of it. Helps get the crazy out of my head.
COOKING: Why the all caps? I'm obsessed with it. Have been for some time.
Through my life, I've collected many things but my nomadic wandering has left most of these collections in garage sales, goodwills, garbage heaps, or in one spectacular example, beneath an ash mound of burning possessions.
I love cookbooks. I love the stories, the pictures, and the recipes. It's official. I heart them. I collect them. I found a spot, eatmybooks where I can reference and use them all.
I'm an 80s 90s former latchkey microwave dinner and takeout kid that then was a poverty ramen and potato eater. I didn't learn to cook even a little until I was 30 and got shamed by my 21 year old roommate.
Now? I'm getting pretty good. I have an abundance of spices and oils and sauces from around the world. I'm familiar with the fundamentals of eating, if not cooking, most cuisines (my attempt at injera was an unmitigated disaster). I've gardened my own harvest and am about to do it again if Father Winter ever knocks it the hell off.
Because cooking and gardening and screwing up doesn't much involve a Caribbean MD, I'm spinning off a blog, because it's the hip thing to do. If I don't update it, well, you've already been trained by this blog to anticipate disappointment. In my defense, I issue more blog posts than George RR Martin issues chapters of Winds of Winter, so that's a bonus, right?
I'm still setting it up. It'll be called "The Semi Reformed Nomad" so stay tuned.
