Our time together has come to a close.  As always, thank you for joining me on this trip.  God willing we meet again in late July, where we sojourn to Vik on Iceland’s southern coast.  Maybe in Fall something else will pop up, but thus far nothing has been planned.  

My quest to become a Physician Assistant continues.  I am rather nonplussed about this whole process.  It feels equal parts asinine, humiliating, exciting, and soul-crushing.  I applied to five schools last cycle.  Three said no.  One never said anything.  A school in The Bronx granted me an interview, but recently told me in a very effusive form letter they would not be going forward with my application.  That it wasn’t me, it was them.  That I’m amazing and have a great personality.  The email was a form letter the program used last year for rejections.  I guess it worked so well, they thought, “Let’s just cut-and-paste this baby and get it out the door!  He’ll never notice.”  I sent the letter back, highlighting the passage from last year.  Humans and their machinations are just so exhausting.  

I can’t complain, mainly because I am an unsympathetic character in this story.  I just recently sat in an airport lounge while day drinking and writing about elective travel, so let’s not pretend I’m suffering any during this period of uncertainty.      

I’ve been working at an urgent care on The Upper East Side since January.  I like my colleagues and generally find the work interesting.  Management even likes me, which is a new experience.  Admittedly, I am an acquired taste.  I continue to volunteer at New York Presbyterian in the Emergency Department.  In November, it will be three years.    

Thank you to my editor, RBD, and travel companion DEG.  RBD couldn’t join us, had some work thing which prevented travel.  She didn’t mention what it was; I’m sure it was nothing major.  Also thanks to our hosts, Chan and Isamu, for showing us around their lovely city.  I know how interested I am in traveling with someone thirty years my junior, so I very much appreciate them letting me ride inside the car and speak at meals.  I am not certain I would be as generous.  Mom and Chan have known each other since their Peace Corp days teaching English in remote parts of the world.    

And I learned where Sacramento is located.  Turns out it is not on the coast but in the Central Valley.  Where is the Central Valley?  Who knows, but I believe it is centrally located.  We’ll have to discover it on a subsequent trip.   

If you would like a high definition photograph from ones I took, please let me know.  I’m happy to gussy it up and email.  

If you are leaving us here, there is a link below to unsubscribe.  Thank you for coming along and please keep in touch.  If you’d like to stay, please feel free to do so.  

Enjoy Summer.  I’ll see you all down the road, where we’ll discuss the land of the midnight sun and how life on top of the Earth works.  In the meantime, I have more school applications to submit.  

I look forward to our paths crossing again.  Till then, be well.