do you have the time

to listen to me whine

about nothing and everything all at once?

i am one of those

melodramatic fools

neurotic to the bone

no doubt about it.
— “basket case” by green day

clearly the members must have been early proponents of the complaint-free lifestyle! i guess i should have taken a break from flannel-shirt shopping and doc martens-buying to actually pay attention to these lyrics back in 1993.

[digression: wow, i sort of can’t believe the grunge aesthetic actually happened. glad its over!]

so. back to 2009. i know the big question is still hanging out there: was the beginning of my complaint-free week a success?

well, no. not exactly. did you really think i could make it through 30 hours of call without a single woe-is-me moment? i think i made it . . . several hours before my first negative commentary was uttered out loud. HOWEVER: i was a lot more aware of the things i was saying, and i really did try to rephrase things (and rethink them) even as i noticed it happening.

having others around me in on things helped, too — i told my intern about my anti-complaining goal and she laughed at me, but it did feel nice having someone to be accountable to. and really, who is going to argue with someone when they say they are going to work on not complaining? no one wants to listen to that anyway, so everyone wins.

i think it did help my mindset a little bit to censor (or take back) negative comments and thoughts as they occurred. there was one point in the night when i did hit a low, but it was more a physiologic issue than anything else. next time i think i’m going to have to try some midnight caffeine . . .

decidedly un-grunge
it went on sale.

i finished my second year of residency.

josh was going to get me ‘leather’ for an anniversary gift.

reasons enough, i think.

yay!

——————————————————————

7.6.09

workout: 4 miles @ 8:57/mi, 0.5% incline pre-call. it was raining so i hit the treadmill and read the latest runner’s world. i am totally getting distance training fever again, and reading this issue didn’t help.

reading: several patient-related articles on call: one on treatment of skin and soft tissue infections with vanc vs. linezolid, and another on suppurative otitis. the theme for our call night was pus!