the perils of

After working in public health for most of my professional life - first as a Doctor to the Barrio, then in the DOH Central Office, then as a researcher - I've decided it's time to enter residency. Scrubs these days are expensive AF. Did not buy. For the uninitiated, residency is that special time in every specialist doctor's life where you work and train in a hospital for 3 to 5 years to become a specialist in something - in my case, Psychiatry. For the initiated, this is 3 to 5 years of being an overworked, underpaid zombie.  My friends and family know I've agonized about this decision for a long time now. I already applied to a Psychiatry program last year, but decided not to push through to stay in the DOH. Last December I decided to quit DOH anyway and take what eventually became a "slow year."  I was lucky enough to be offered a few research and consulting gigs, and to some extent, I was able to do things on my own terms. For the first time ever I was 100...

So this was my plan. It was so clear to me back then: If I don't pass the UPCAT, I'm going to XU. As for my choice of course, it was a toss-up between Computer Science and Biology. For me, getting to that point where I had only two courses to choose from was already a big accomplishment, considering that my previous list of course choices was anything but short. I had so many plans: take Political Science, proceed to Law and become a lawyer. Take something in communications like Journalism or MassCom and work in the advertising biz. I even considered going to Bigfoot Studios in Cebu and taking up Filmography! Filmography!!! My parents played a big role in my indecision. Being the awesome people that they are, they told me that they'd support me whichever school I went to, whichever course I decided to pick. There was no one around to tell me, "No you can't study in Manila," or, "You have no future in that course." In fact, not one little chuckle ...