Our goal over this year’s holiday season was to accomplish absolutely nothing – which was exactly what we did over the past 4 days in New York. Much of our time was spent reliving the joy of sci-fi novels like Ender’s Game and Asimov’s Foundation series. We also flexed the language portion of our brain muscles with DS games like NY Times Crossword and WordJong (it’s better than it sounds), some high-speed scribbling action with Boggle at my cousin’s house, and the increasingly addictive Scrabulous app on Facebook. Of course, we did not neglect to flex our stomach muscles as well. We gobbled Joe Shanghai’s famous soup dumplings, tender BBQ beef tongues at Gyu-Kaku, and a somewhat underwhelming luncheon tasting menu at Bouley. To my dismay, I was struck again with another cold on our return to Boston. I guess I’ll just have to veg out for a few more days before we ring in the new year.

After many flights and sleepless nights (hey, that rhymed!), my interview trail for Ophthalmology finally ended last week as my plane landed in Logan Airport moments before our first major snowstorm this winter. Over the past 2 weeks, I’ve been living out of my suitcase as I traveled around the country, through New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Miami, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. I joined the several dozen other applicants with the same conservative black suit and same leather portfolio, as we all did our best to appear confident but not cocky, unique but not weird, and smart without being a smart-ass. Anyway, after both college and med school interviews, most of us have gotten the whole smile-and-nod routine down cold – like “Wow! You guys have slit lamps too?” Fortunately, through carefully orchestrated planning – pricelining hotels, using public transportation, bumming free rides, and crashing at my friends’ pads, I did manage to save my bank account from taking too big a hit. For the grand finale, I completed my Step II board exam yesterday, powering through the 9-hour exam and taking only one 5-minute break for bathroom and a snack. Now as I sit in my warm apartment and watch the rest of the city being blanketed by the heavy snow, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief.