Why I suck at IPR

When you bump into a friend on the street, or speak to the punk rock teenager at the checkout counter, or go to the dentist, the interaction is always the same. A quick "Hi" followed by a "How are you doing today?". But no matter the exchange, unless you truly know the person and haven't seen them in years, you probably don't give a crap how that person is doing. It's simply a nicety.

So when people follow "Hi" and "How are you" with "How's med school"... I never really know what to say. Odds are, 1) they don't give a shit how school is going 2) they haven't seen me in forever and 3) they thought I moved away last summer.

My choices are the following:
1) Be curt. Say, "Fine, how are you?" and hope they go away. This won't work if I actually know the person well and/or like them, because we science nerds bind together and it is likely they will continue to ask questions about school.

2) Lie. Say, "School is great! It's really interesting and I'm learning a ton." I think lies are self-explanatory.

3) Be painfully honest. "I'm drowning. I really need a vacation, and I don't fucking care what enzyme deficiency causes lens dislocation."

My choice is almost 100% #1, simply because I operate on the assumption that no one really cares; I don't want to sound like a whiner; and most importantly, I don't want to have to sit and hear about their problems.

The only negative result of this is that I end up not blowing off my steam about school to anyone but people who also have *school steam*, and we just kind of switch *steam*, and no one really ever loses *steam*. Ok, I'm retarded. Shut up.


Here is an allusion to future posts: 10 totally unrealistic things I want for Christmas, and world's best *First Semester of Med School* survival tips.

The end. (PS, I got pissed in the library the other day and drew some angry med student cartoons. As soon as I find a scanner that is both functional and Mac compatible, I will add them.)

The end. Fin. And stuff.