Oh ho ho! Thanks for the fun ask! Answers are as follows:
1. I like that I’m good at my job. This feels kinda trite, but like many people I went through a period of feeling like an imposter in the field of medicine. And I never was all that good at doing procedures (even simple ones such as drawing blood), and probably never will be (since I don’t wanna do them!). But being an internist means I’m part journalist, part detective, and part writer... every day. I enjoy interviewing people to find out what their concerns are, I enjoy solving problems even when they are mundane, and I love writing out my entire process (although the actual act of typing it all out can be a pain, sometimes). There’s a lot to be said for writing a good history in regards to one of my patients, and although a lot of my written notes are only “noteworthy” mostly for their accuracy and succinctness, occasionally I get to talk to someone who has really interesting takes and is just a really interesting person generally, in a way where it’s worthwhile putting all that information “on the record” since it can help paint a picture of what’s really going on with someone. Someone who got a dog bite while wandering around drunkenly on abandoned roads at 2am is likely gonna have different medical needs than someone who got that dog bite because they attempted to fend off an aggressive chihuahua while visiting at grandma’s house. My work is exhausting but it’s usually pretty memorable!
2, I like that I have a huge and eclectic book collection, and I have it organized pretty attractively at home. Like, tons of Haruki Murakami books, of course, but also rare finds like Olaus Magnus’ “A Description of the Northern Peoples 1555,” which is a three volume history of the history of the Sami by a Swedish scholar from the 16th century, or my precious copy of “One Hundred and One Dalmations” by Dodie Smith, which is seriously one of my favorite books of all time (I enjoy it far more than her novel I Capture the Castle, which is also a good book). My signed copy of Douglas Coupland’s “Microserfs” is one of my treasures, since it’s a book that reminds me of a very specific time in my life and also I got Coupland to sign it by drawing a maple leaf, since he’s Canadian and all. Look at this!
So cool! What a dorky maple leaf!!! You tried, bro!!!
Anyway I have tons of books, and they make me so happy whenever I come home. <3
3. I get along really well with my family, and have the cutest nieces and nephews. This is something that isn’t just “about myself,” since I am fully aware that having good relationships with family is a kind of privilege, and is something I could never have actually fully earned, because although I am responsible for my own side of things, its also super important that my parents and brothers are good people who are mostly easy to get along with. But it was my decision to live nearby, and so I see them all often, and it is my job to do my best to be a good daughter, sister, and aunt (among other things), and it really enriches my life is so many ways. Too many to say. Just this past week I took my nephew and niece (ages soon-to-be 6 and 4, respectively) on a bike ride, and we biked out to a nearby church where I could catch some Pokemon with them and also bike REALLY REALLY FAST in the empty church parking lot, going in big circles and shit, getting SUPER EXCITED when we went down “that hill” (which um was just a small incline in the pavement BUT WHO CARES ABOUT THAT??).
4. Even though I’m kind of functionally on fic-writing hiatus (there IS this Endhawks thing I have been sort of slashing at for months now, but who knows if it will see the light of day), I’m really proud of several of the stories I’ve put out there into the world, and I like to think that they’ll be enjoyable for people even after I die, someday down the line. The stories I am proudest of are in my most niche fandom (Oofuri), but the Haruna/Akimaru ones in particular were written during a really fun and precious time in my life, and not only do I feel like they are just... like objectively my best stories, and my favorite ones to read and re-read, they also take me back to long walks during warm sun-drenched summer evenings, with the sunlight lingering long in pinked, purple-tinged skies, with fireflies blinking slowly into relevance as planets and a waxing moon come into sight, walking in my quiet neighborhood listening to birdsong and listening to the song “Forbidden Friendship” from How to Train Your Dragon on a loop, imagining my stories out in crystal-clear detail and feeling almost like I was actually living in that world, for a while. I’m proud of the writing I have done, and so even if I can’t ever get another story out, I feel like I’ve done my small part to make the world just the tiniest bit better, and just knowing this gives me immense satisfaction.
5. I like that even though I am a very introverted and difficult person in a lot of ways, I’ve managed to make some very important friendships, some of which have actually lasted, even though often (because of my own health-related flakiness) many of those friendships have attenuated over time, I feel like the roots of the warm connections I’ve made will be with me forever. I fail a lot when it comes to keeping in touch, but even when I do, it’s fairly common for people I’ve lost touch with to remember me fondly and come up to me to say hi when they can, and so this makes me feel like I’ve done some things right, despite all of my flaws. And the friendships which somehow HAVE managed to last? The best. I love all of you guys. :)
Tagging: well, @rockabelle back at you, assuming you haven’t already done this (I will be going through my dash in a little bit to catch up)! But I will have to consider who else I wanna tag, and so for now, will just say... mutuals? Feel free to meme at me if these questions appeal to you! I wanna know!!!
