I’m back home after spending a month on what is essentially an extended job interview/training opportunity at a hospital in another part of the country i’m considering moving to after I graduate medical school. It was fun, and I enjoyed it, but I’m so glad to sleep in my own bed. Now to begin the process of finalizing what I wanna be when I grow up, it’s agonizing (but exciting too, tbh) to finally have to make a choice that really will decide at least the next few years, but ultimately the rest of my career.

I am DRAGGING myself through this month. I take a really important exam for my career tomorrow. I’ve spent a month studying full-time for it, and i’m running on fumes. I’ll look forward to getting home tomorrow evening. I’ve just finished Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson, and now i’m finally getting into Apostles of Mercy by Lindsay Ellis.

I feel you. It’s hard to explain to people how much they take for granted their ability to be unguarded when seeking out activities or communities, and to find those places as a gay person you are restricted to a tiny fraction of places (usually HCOL too sadly)

On the side, I hate how most LGBT community stuff is nightlife, bars, clubs. That’s not really my thing. I’d like some other options for meeting people and hanging out that are more relaxed and preferably earlier in the day. Though I feel that’s not unique to me or even other gay people.

turn of phrase. Bond villians generally have some weird philosphy that guides their actions, like this attacker who is using a cyberattack to push a goal of threatening a company to make their stuff open source.

From the outside looking in, I feel there’s a lot of aspects of trauma and mental health problem that can manifest in kink, sometimes as a beneficial way of overcoming these issues, but I think there’s a lot of maladaptation in it, and the space allows folks to intentionally or unintentionally reinforce harmful thoughts and behavior.

I think even beyond the kink aspect, this is seen in sexuality generally. I’d say the best other example would be the idea of “bottoms” and “tops” as almost personality archetypes and rules of behavior rather than sexual preference.

It’s a procedure in search of indications. Unethical and surprisingly still common and covered by insurance. No doctor would perform aesthetic surgery on a child for any other reason save ear piercings, i don’t think it’s as common as it used to be, but an infant couldn’t consent to that either.

For some reason, I’ve encountered lots of moms (occasionally would get a “hell no” from dad though) whose biggest concern after their son was born is when the circ was going to be performed. I wish the medical organizations would put some more focus on the ethics and aspect of consent/assent. There’s a lot of talk about research in public health about how it may or may not affect STI rates, and then the argument gets stuck on risks/benefits rather than ethics.

It ultimately is a procedure rooted in cultural and religious practice, and the American medical establishment is pretty slow, especially in that aspect.

It’s easy to throw pills at people in hopes they’ll take it, but it’d go further to educate people on how to best take care of themselves and their families via diet, exercise, and primary prevention. People don’t like that because it takes more money, effort, and isn’t a quick and easy thing to make money off of.

This really clicks for how I understand my irritation with labeling and identity, and she really set it up in a way that is far more eloquent than I could explain.

I think this can be extrapolated to lots of other identity types when they subsume a person’s personality or global identity. Personally, I see it a lot with medical-adjacent stuff like disability, neuropsych related stuff, even sexual stuff like dom/sub terminology. She explains well that these terms can be exciting to help you discover who you are, but ultimately, they’re reductive and if you let it, labels can limit you and hinder your self-discovery and growth over time.

I’m finishing up the year, and about to start what is essentially my final year of school. Planning my schedule, getting in gear to apply for the residency match (first job/otj training after you finish medical school). I am doing a lot of bouncing between excited and nervous, so I’m doing a lot of work trying to be mindful and in touch with my mood, as stressful as the holidays already are.

Videos/mealtimevideos was a big thing for me. They kept me entertained while I ate lunch, lol.