“What’s something you didn’t expect about medicine?” A med school applicant asked me on the phone as I crawled down the southbound 405. While squinting in the haze, nothing in particular came to mind. …

I was catching up with a friend on a phone call when she asked, “What’s the most exciting thing you’ve seen in the emergency room?” I was coming off a night shift and my brain refused to churn. …

During orientation week, one of my co-interns gave all her fellow interns custom-made scrub caps with our last names embroidered on top, in cheery school-color fabric. I had never worn scrub caps much in medical school. The kinds of people who wore scrub caps seemed much busier than me —…

It’s been a long time since I’ve spent time in the sun. Even in sunny southern California, the winter solstice draws near, and I can’t tell whether night shifts or day shifts give me more of the ever-dwindling daylight hours. When I work 6AM-6PM, I see no sun in the…

My personal theory about time is that memory is not processed as seconds or minutes but as input, interpretation, and decisions. It’s like sheet music. For familiar pieces, my fingers fall into place and before I know it, it’s time to turn the page. But learning a new piece, each…

On my first shift as an actual doctor, I walked into the room and by reflex, I ran through my usual script. “Hi, I’m A-, how are you? What brought you in today?” My patient paused a little. “Sorry, are you the doctor?” Oh, right. “Yep, yes. I am. I’m…

When I was in middle school, my mom and I got lost trying to get to a Science Olympiad practice at a sister school. We idled in the parking lot, trying not to turn on the A/C in the summer haze. Without warning, my mom bolted upright, rolling down her…

I’ve spent a lot of time this week refreshing-refreshing-refreshing websites for the fleeting split-second vaccine appointment times freckling New York City. Sometimes a sudden windfall of appointments opens all at once, and in the fray, I struggle to control my tone as I direct R into filling out a vaccine…

A friend of mine who works as a lawyer described the rat race of law as “a pie-eating contest, where the prize is more pie.” The harder you work, the more efficient you are, and the higher you climb in the promotions ladder, the more work you are tasked with…