This year’s AAO annual meeting took place in the city of Orlando, and as senior residents, we had our first chance to partake in this magical experience. Of course, having already spent a fortune on fellowship interviews, I was reduced to sharing a room at the local Econolodge, which luckily was within walking distance to the convention center. Due to lack of call coverage back home, I was only able to attend the Retina subspecialty day – a 2-day extravaganza of mini-lectures summarizing the biggest stories of the year in a single over-sized conference hall. In between the talks, I snuck in an interview for the ARC fellowship and visited the exhibitor booths to browse the new toys and grab some freebies. Although most of the reps were only giving out candy or eye drop samples, I did get my lenses engraved by the folks at Volk. More importantly, the meeting gave me a chance to reconnect with colleagues – past residents and fellows who have graduated, as well as faculty and other applicants from the interview trail. After our first day at the meeting, we enjoyed some tapas and Flamingo dancing at Cafe Tu Tu Tango, then set out on a wild night crashing a Genentech social in the Peabody ballroom, followed by a Cornea Society party with physician-DJ’s spinning house music at the Hard Rock Cafe. Hoping to take it easy the next day, we met up with some BU residents and stuffed ourselves with Turkish lavas and hummus at Anatolia before the ride home on a taxi-van from a driver named Mr. Muzik (spelling confirmed on cab badge). Despite the short trip, the traditionally busy call through the rest of AAO turned out surprisingly quiet, perhaps due to our first snowfall this Halloween, giving me a nice break before my next wave of fellowship interviews.

Was it only 4 years ago that I packed the same black suit into my carry-on suitcase, traveling across the country to confront the myriad unfamiliar faces, each with a hand in casting the die that determines my fate? This fellowship interview season brought back memories of cliche personal statements, SFmatch anguish, airline ticket bargain-hunting, crashing on old friends’ couches, changing in airport bathrooms, insomnia on red-eye flights, and of course, the interview suit – the one that cannot be packed without getting wrinkled. Luckily, I’ve found two new gadgets that has made life a lot easier this time around: a handy portable steamer to replace shower steaming, and the Google maps phone app for navigation. The smartphone is not without its Achilles’ heel, however. Upon arriving in Portland the night before my first interview, I found my phone dying from low battery, almost taking with it my friend’s home address or phone number. Luckily, I averted spending the night in the streets, and got to share her living room with her parrotlet before my interview at Casey. I spent the rest of my time in Portland venturing to the Pearl district to explore Powell’s City of Books before having eclectic Peruvian fare at Andina for dinner. My trip continued in Altanta, which gave me a chance to hang with my cousin’s family for the weekend before my Emory interview, and was followed by St. Louis for a visit to Wash U. By the time I returned home to cover senior call for Columbus Day weekend, I was deathly ill with a wicked cold and laryngitis. Exhausted from all the traveling and illness, I had to recuperate at home with some good ol’ gaming with Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. Ubisoft’s next chapter in Desmond and Ezio’s epic adventure brought back the fun of climbing gorgeous historic buildings, hunting for treasure chests, and stabbing Borgia baddies with hidden blades. Sadly, the reprieve was short-lived, and I was soon taking my suit on the road again for interviews at my home institution and then UC Davis. I had little time to spend with my 5-year-old niece in Sacramento, but I’ll hope to make it up with my upcoming vacation for Thanksgiving.