Loco Locums

Three exams left. Counting my boards, which I plan to take either in late May or early June. Two finals and then that really big one. I have some study materials lined up, and I can purchase some computerized study aids too. It feels close, picked up my cap and gown, tassel and hood yesterday. Yes, hood, when you are bestowed with a masters, you wear a hood. The get-up is even stranger for the doctoral graduates.

Job quest rolls on. My plan to work for the specialized facility fell through. They said although I was the best person for the job, the locums tenen doctor (the term means "temp" for a practitioner) backed out at the last minute. This was to fill the gap until I was fully credentialed in late June. So their home office required them to fill the position now with an NP already licensed. I was disappointed, they were very nice about it, but what a time sink that was. I met with them three times, did research on their business and population, interview prep, etc. But the nice part is I'm actually feeling pretty happy about my other option now - it's working in a private practice with a local psychiatrist in central Austin. The only disadvantage is the initial lack of income - this is not a salaried position as the other one was. It will take time to build my clientele. But the team there (the doc and two other NPs) is a great bunch and it will be a great place to learn. The variety of patients will be good too - all ages, all different diagnoses. And I can walk to Kerbey Lane Cafe for lunch every day. Yes, the best revenge is happiness (I actually said that to a client today, when he was talking about recovering from a bad breakup). That's a bit of overstatement for me - no revenge intended here. It's all OK. Really.

Kitten season is coming at the Austin Animal Center. If you're thinking about adding to your family, please come by in the next month or so. We will be overrun soon.

I ran across an article at school that completely articulates my philosophy about mental health. Here's a link to it if you're interested. The cool thing is that this practice that I hope to join is completely on board with this. It's so much more than a pill pushing place. I really think I'll be able to put this into action.
Lifestyle and Mental Health

Ken and I go pick up Dani in NYC in late May. We are only staying 3 days, just lots to do and Nile is here, still in school. When Dani gets back, we will be going to yoga together. She's turned into this total flaming yogini freak, which I'm totally jazzed about. You know, it had to happen, I mean she does have half my genetic material. I got this terrific Groupon for us to take classes at a Lakeway studio together all summer long. Then, here's the cool part: in the Fall, she moves into an apartment that is quite close to where I hope to work and there's a yoga place within walking distance. Hopefully we can meet there after work while I wait for the traffic to die down. Mother/daughter bonding experience and get-healthy time, all wrapped up.

OK, so guess where I'm headed? Yep. Yoga. Aaaaahhhhhhh.

Wicked & Divine

Unique ceramic works.

Last night was Art Erotica, AIDS Services of Austin's big fund-raiser for the Paul Kirby emergency fund. Such a good cause, but man such a good time! It was noticeably toned down this year -- kind of wondering why. Here's the scene as we entered: dark, throbbing beats, art along the perimeter. Lots of gorgeous young gay men serving drinks in just their bikini briefs. There's a stage for fun later, and an area set up for three artists to paint/draw with live models with a circle of chairs for spectators. Lots of super sexy party-goers, yes, ass-less chaps and Marilyn Monroe-esque drag queens. Free drinks too, but I noticed that I've never seen someone stumbly-drunk there, never seen out of control behavior. It's just that nice Austin, tolerant chill weirdness.

This is the one we bought.

So some of the highlights: really cool trapeze performers using hoops and lengths of silk, a mini-Mardi Gras parade at one point, a male and female balancing act using just their bodies (I'd like to be that strong), oh and watching artists create from a tableau of 3 models. That was way cool. Two women and a man, the women had these interesting trompe l'oeil paintings on their bodies (pic below). I simply couldn't believe how fast the artists could work - of course, maybe that was the idea. But the finished works looked pretty good. We did end up buying a painting - its got that mystical Southwestern dreamy thing going on that we like.

So that was fun and well worth a night that I could be studying. School is fine, I'm very busy mostly because I spend two full days a week with Dr. Smith and I have 4 therapy clients now. I'm interviewing at two places for a job, and they are both quite different. One I mentioned in my last post, a local psychiatrist but I'm also talking with a small private center. In the interests of privacy, I won't be specific about the place but it serves a niche market of a specific disorder. They are interested in creating a brand-new position, so it is pretty different from most NP jobs, but one that fits well with my previous experience and my interests. Of course, I'd see patients too -- that's essential to me. Can you tell which way I'm leaning now? Ha. There's many different ways to work as an NP - we can be salaried employees, hourly employees, independent contractors that pay a monthly fee for supervision and office support, or pay a cut of our billings. It's a lot to analyze.

My New Year's resolution was to start adding a little running to my activities and I've been succeeding with that, but I started having knee pain. I suspected that I needed a different kind of shoes, so I went to this local running store in Lakeway, Capital City Running (http://capitalcityrunning.com), and they have a treadmill and videocam to analyze your gait, and I was impressed. I needed stability shoes but also turns out my shoes were way too small. A full size too small, maybe that's a female thing, we don't want to have big feet. I bought the shoes and yes, big difference. I love the running, want the knees to stop hurting though. And of course, I did too much too fast. Duh.

I'd love to say more....especially about interesting things I've learned. But I have a big paper to work on and some group members are counting on me. And the gym is calling too.