#lmcc

That didn't go as planned

“He… Hear… e ?”

“1/5. Who is it ?” Questioned Reyes, guarded.

“Al…” More crackling, “Aha ! Is this better ?” A modified voice asked.

“Mockingbird ? Could this wait, I’m busy.” Gabriel said, shooting over the cover, taking two men down.

“I know, that’s why I’m calling, honey.” Replied ‘Mockingbird’.

“Explain.”

“Well, I have a map of where you are, and I could all guide you to safety.”

“We are surrounded.”

“Where are y’all ?” This time, Cole was the first to talk.

“Big room, farthest from the entrance. Looks like a garage to me.” The voice hummed.

“Okay, I see your room. The one with a platform on the Northside ?” Cassidy took a tiny peek over the cover, before ducking.

“Yep. We’re in front of it, opposite wall. Middle of it.”

“Okay, perfect, I see where you are. Look to your left, is the path clear to the door ?” Genji glanced at the door, seeing some pretty heavy guarded men just next to it.

“That’ll be an incredibly risky move.” He announced.

“I see…” There’s a pause as if Mockingbird was checking something. “Oh wait, maybe I got something safer. At your right, between the corner and you, there used to be a trap and an underground way leading to the outside. Apparently, they did a poor job on covering both sides, so it’s possible to force your way into it.”

“How big was the trap ?” Questioned Moira.

“A square of 2 meters.”

“Gotta be precise…” Genji mumbled.

“Where exactly is it ?” Asked Gabe.

“If you’re in the true middle of the room the beginning is 4 meters away, honey.”

“What do we do ?” Questioned Cole, unsure.

Yoko Ono reminds us to Dream and Remember Love, among other handwritten messages of hope, in her ceramic mosaic installation “SKY” (2018) at the 72 St. (B/C) station. Her visual language travels downtown in this year’s LMCC River to River Festival, opening tonight, 5:30-7pm. “The Reflection Project” presents work by Yoko Ono across Downtown Manhattan where New Yorkers are prompted to slow down and engage with instructive text found in non-traditional spaces such as Fulton Center. In “Add Color (Refugee Boat)”, an interactive installation conceived by Ono, the public are invited into an empty space with a boat to paint their thoughts, ideas and hopes, which over time, will create a sea of color from afar and a glimpse of reality up close.

On the flipside of "this too shall pass", remember to enjoy what you've got while you've got it and take advantage of the opportunities that come your way. Clerkship is your opportunity to be dumb with very little consequence--what better time to, as Ms Frizzle repeatedly told me on my post-call days, "Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy! [And learn something! Seriously, anything.]"

Clerkship is also a time when you can work out the kinks of surviving a 1 in 4 call schedule and squeak in all the adulting real-life things you gotta do (ex/EXERCISING AND SLEEPING, dental appointments, taking your car in for maintenance, prepping all your meals in advance, clean your bathroom, etc.), and a really important time to get an inkling about what "work-life balance" actually is in practice. Mistakes don't just apply to all the times you miscalculated that preemie's TFI or asked for a fleet enema PO because a nurse told you it was a thing (it's not. It really, really is not.)--it's also time to screw up scheduling stuff and panic about it but have things work out in the end because realistically the TEAM DOES NOT NEED YOU TO FUNCTION (even though you can be very helpful! Don't underestimate how much you can actually help even if you're not 100% essential!)

You will never again have this opportunity to ask the same question more than once on the same rotation, or to be able to say, "Please don't expect too much of my knowledge or skills, I'm a clerk and I'm here to learn!" Your sleep and eating and wellbeing will never again be as protected as it is during clerkship.

Clerkship is also when you figure out who will be there for you when you really need them--who will listen to your whining and your ranting and wrap you up in blankets and make you tea when you need it. You will figure out who is willing to go out of their way to give you a ride to the hospital for 6AM (or sometimes 5:45AM/earlier, sorry to my poor boyfriend who woke up with me at 4:30AM some mornings... <3). Along the same vein, you also figure out who you will buy wine for on your post-call days because you know they need some cheering up.

I know this is now a little less touchy-feely-FIFE-y of me to mention, but clerkship is really also when you figure out what you want to do with your life. For me, I knew peds was my thing because on my post-call days I wanted to visit my friends and their baby. On my vacation I spent >50% of a 3.5h flight chatting with the 6-year-old girl sitting in front of me on the plane (surprisingly, her mother didn't find me super creepy or anything. My sister suspects that if I were a larger male there would've been a complaint). You will do things you love and things you hate and everything in between, and it will tell you a lot about who you are and what kind of physician you are meant to become.

That said, I wish all the best to all my colleagues on their future endeavors (good luck on those LMCCs!!), and to all the clerks and preclerks that have so many amazing opportunities ahead of them!

Questions answered

When Genji woke up, he was sore everywhere. Every movement he made him wince, especially his back. He honestly wanted to go back to sleep. But he remembered that he got woken up, and it was probably the time for the debriefing of the mission. He cursed under his breath.

The mission wasn’t a total failure, but it wasn’t exactly a victory. He wasn’t looking forward to hearing everything that he did wrong. The only thing that saved their life (probably. …OK, maybe a bit more than just a probably) was the intervention of this “Mockingbird” person. He hadn’t heard about them, but Gabriel did, and they knew his boss well enough to enter the private communication link that they had…

Or they hacked into it. That could be it, too. Either way, Gabriel didn’t seem that surprised that they managed to slide their way into their comms. In any case, the cyborg was glad, if it wasn’t for all the questions that ensued in his mind. He hoped they would be answered during the meeting.

The ninja stood up, wincing at the pain. Time to get ready. He wondered what type of clothing he would take on, before shrugging and taking a hoodie with some slim pants. Both black, of course. As was his entire wardrobe… Ah, there was some red here and there, he saw.

He sighed, closing the closet. This was going to be a day, wasn’t it ? He was already looking forward to the end, so he could sleep and hope for a better day tomorrow.

He got out of his thoughts. He needed to go to the briefing room now, or else he’ll be late. He didn’t want attention on him.

He walked into the briefing room, noticing that he wasn’t the first, but certainly not the last to be there. Not exactly the last, to be more precise. Everyone was there besides Cassidy, which made him arch an eyebrow, but he didn’t comment on it. He sat down next to Gabriel, in front of Moira. He didn’t answer her greeting, barely shooting her a glance.

Genji as well as the others waited patiently for Cole, the sound of the commander talking quietly to someone breaking the cold silence.

When the cowboy finally arrived, he was almost late. He looked grumpy, as did everyone else, but it actually looked rather faint on his face. The only way the ninja could tell was because he knew him rather well.

Noticing the newcomer, Gabe told something to his interlocutor on his phone, then turned to his team.

What happened to my local arts council? Why isn't it news? What is the deal with local arts grants? Why did I have no idea this is how it works? #QCA #ArtsFunding #NYC

Because my play is about Cretan history and the neighborhood I live in is full of Cretans (and other Greeks), I figured I should apply to my local arts council for some hyper local funding. That is, New York State or New York City funding would be too broad, I would need Queens funding. So I went to the Queens Council on the Arts’ website and all that was there was a little box for putting in a…

It's late...

Genji looked at the clock again, for the nth time.

4.39 AM.

He sighed. The ninja hasn't managed to sleep since now, the thought of what happened on their last mission still on his mind. How he escaped death again. How if Mockingbird didn’t think of checking on them they wouldn’t have come off that easily.

He felt his phone make a quick buzz. He looked at it.

Speaking of which…

Mockingbird you sleepin ?

Was he ? Did he want to pretend ? … Let’s see what he wanted, first.

Genji What do you want ?

Mockingbird idk im just bored, i guess

Genji There’s Cassidy for that.

Mockingbird ye but he sleepin i dun wanna wake him up yknow im a tease not cruel

The Shimada sighed. They were just bored… He didn’t think he could be a good distraction. But at the same time, he didn’t really want to sleep now, Genji was too awake to even attempt it.

Genji I’m not sure I’ll be a good disraction Distracyion

Mockingbird r u ok

Genji Distraction

Mockingbird there we go u should go to sleep tbh

Genji I'm too awake for that.

Mockingbird ah understandable and dw i dun mind tbh

Genji If you say so.

Mockingbird up for a call ?