The Mental Check-Out of Tara Rhee

I hate Buffalo, I do. It's cold, it's old, it's ugly, and the people don't know how to entertain themselves without a bottle in their hands. This is the only city that I've been to where functional alcoholism is acceptable, if not encouraged. I thought that I was going to get out of this lovely little city last spring but I ended up landing a really good job. I love my job and I love Roswell Park but pretty much everything else in this city makes my skin crawl. Every morning I say a little prayer before I look out the window hoping that there's not a foot and a half of snow covering every flat surface. Lately my car has had trouble starting in the mornings so I'm sure that she's going to breakdown on me sometime in the middle of January when I have snow up to my hips and it's 20 deg. below zero. Where Buffalo is concerned, I'm a glass is half empty type of person.

Alright, I'll step out of my "Debbie Downer" mode and tell you some happy/exciting/awesome news. Last Wednesday I was busy at work (i.e. sitting at the desk checking my email) and my crappy cell phone started to vibrate. I was expecting it to be my mother because she gets nervous if she goes 2.5 hours without hearing my voice. What can I say, she still hasn't cut that cord :) Needless to say, it wasn't Mommy Dearest but some number from Missouri. Missouri? Yep, that's the state where I had an interview last week. I answered the phone and I heard "Tara, this is Ian from the admissions department at Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine...." I kind of blanked out at that point but then I heard "...offering you a seat in our program..." and then I blanked again but eventually managed to utter about 20 "thank yous" and then I told him that he was my favorite person in the WHOLE WORLD and I giggled uncontrollably. Yeah, this is what a future physician looks like *hangs her head in shame. Needless to say, I was a little bit excited. Out of all of the schools where I interviewed, this one just felt right. I love the osteopathic philosophy of patient care and I felt as if this school truly embraced that. The faculty seemed encouraging and warm, and I think that I had a huge smile of my face most of the day just because everyone was so NICE. And since I'm a honest person, I'm going to also point out that the people at this school had definitely been hit by the pretty stick. Does this make me a shallow person? Yes, yes it does. I've been surrounded by ugly for two years and it's refreshing to see a large amount of both men and women who put effort into their physical appearance. I did not see one pair of UGG boots or Juicy sweatpants. "Refreshing" doesn't even begin to describe it...

The interesting thing is that once I got this phone call, I could actually feel myself mentally leave Buffalo. I know that you're all thinking that I've either been smoking the gonja or I've subscribed to some crap new-age philosophy where I only wear clothes made out of natural fibers and I talk to plants. Nope, I haven't done either of those but wouldn't that be fun if I had? No, to explain it a little bit better, I could feel my focus change from the here and now to some point next August when I'll be living in a completely different state and starting a new stage of my life. Isn't that exciting??? I can't wait to be thrown into yet another brand new situation where I don't know anyone and I have to adjust to something completely different than what I have previously experienced. I just love new places and experiences. I think my favorite thing about Buffalo is that it was so different than Tennessee and I had to start from scratch. I had no friends here, I didn't know where anything was, and I felt completely on my own. I'm a fiercely independent person so I feel like I thrive in situations like this. Now I get to do it all over again and I'm super-pumped. Right now I feel like I'll end up in Missouri and I'm perfectly OK with that. I've never really even been to the Midwest so this will be yet another crazy new experience that I have to get through.

Mom left me a voicemail message the other day that made me laugh and I felt like sharing. She said, "You went to undergrad in the South, you got your graduate degree in the North, and now you're going to get your doctorate in the Midwest. I forbid you, I repeat, forbid you to practice in the West. I'll be getting old and I'll need someone to take care of me...with that night-blindness shit that happens to old people...." I love my mom :)