I’ve been tagged by IntraopOrate.

Great.  Another freaking meme.  I’m so tired of these damn things…

Wait a minute.  Oh yeah, I’ve never been tagged before.  Plus I’ve had writer’s block for like a month.  So sure I’ll play.

Eight random things about myself.

1. I start every morning the same way.  Make my coffee (black), make my bagel (almost burnt), wash any dirty dishes, sit in my big overstuffed chair, open up my laptop and gradually wake up.  It’s always a bonus when one of my two favorite coffee mugs happens to be clean.  Sometimes my morning starts around 2pm if I’m coming off a night shift, but it’s still the same routine.

2. Before going to med school, I worked for a year as a nursing assistant.  I drew blood, transported patients, changed old-people diapers, made coffee, answered phones, and basically did whatever I was told.  It paid $7.12/hr.  Most of the nurses were smart, hard-working, and professional.  Most of the doctors were a-holes.  It gave me a sense of perspective I don’t think I would have had otherwise, and I’m glad I didn’t quit and take a job sacking groceries at the local supermarket, which was actively hiring at $10/hr.     

3. I recently bought a Nintendo Wii.  If you become able to play Wii tennis online against other people then I’m officially withdrawing from the outside world.

4. I like traveling but I don’t love it.  Plus it makes my days off go by really fast.  And then when I get back in town I usually have to work a bunch of shifts in a row to make up for the time off which I find extremely painful.  Which makes me want to just stay home and relax the next time I have a string of days off.  But then I figure when I’m eighty if all I did was sit around I’ll have a bunch of regrets.  So I’m always kind of torn. (Pretty rough life I lead huh?  Well whatever it took alot of work to get here.)

5. I’m way too passive-aggressive.  I can get in someone’s face if I absolutely have to, but it takes alot for me to get to that point, and the experience usually lingers with me for a long time afterward.  I’m relatively easy going and casual at work, and while this works really well with the self-driven nurses, there are lazy ones who take advantage of this.  Instead of confronting them, I usually end up muttering to myself.  It’s a problem and I’m working on it.

6. I can score around 3,000 in this game, which brings me a ridiculous amount of satisfaction. 

7. I stupidly agreed to be in a two-day charity bike ride called the MS 150 in med school.  I meant to train but never got around to it.  I had an old ten-speed and meant to take it in for a tune up but same thing.  The first day I found out that my rear tire was bent so it kept bumping up against the brake each time around.  Also, everytime I tried to switch gears the chain would fall off.  Despite all this, we went straight north from Denton to Lake Texoma with a north tailwind, and it really wasn’t bad at all.  The next day was a loop around the lake.  The last 15 miles or so was uphill and upwind.  My hands and neck and back and legs were killing me.  Everytime a car went by I kept hoping it would hit me so I could quit with some dignity.  I actually started crying a little bit.  But I finally finished, and everyone else in my group who had finished hours before me was nice enough to stick around and watch me cross the finish line.  They asked if I wanted to do it again next year, but “fool me twice” and I quickly said no.

8. I hold intramural championships in foosball, ping-pong, and pickleball.  I lost every single intramural basketball game I ever played in, college and med school, probably 20 times or so.  You might be shocked to learn I’m a averaged-sized, somewhat brainy white guy.

Ok, no tags from me, I’m probably the last person in the blogosphere who hadn’t received this yet anyways.