Hello and welcome to an interstitial update. I wanted to give my holiday greetings and pass along a few life updates that affect Cleared For Departure.

My nephews gave me an upper respiratory infection for Christmas, which I am holding close to my heart. Just above it, actually. A URI is a step up from two years ago when RBD and I got a nasty stomach virus, which caused days of loo-related unpleasantness. I interact with hundreds of people at the urgent care who have COVID and flu without incident. After day two of Christmas vacation with the kids, it feels like I swallowed sandpaper covered in drywall dust. Such little blessings, the young.

Man plans, and God laughs.

Old Yiddish saying

I digress.

First of all, Happy Holidays.

Whatever you believe in, I hope it’s working well for you. 

Secondly, I was accepted to P.A. school at Long Island University.

Classes start Fall of 2024. Fall of 2025, I start clinical rotations. December of 2026, I graduate. People have asked me if I am excited, and, honestly, I am mostly just relieved the waiting has concluded. Finally I can make plans again, which the Universe will casually thwart at every available turn. Feels good to be back in the saddle, or as much “in the saddle” as anyone is in a universe filled with unceasing chaos and a casual disregard for rational action.  

LIU’s PA school is located on the Brooklyn campus.

Which brings us to a third exciting update, we are temporarily moving to Brooklyn.

Ta-da! I know, our loved ones were perplexed and concerned, too. I have never cared much for Brooklyn, as I do not care for anything that tries hard to be something it’s not. I’ve lived in Manhattan long enough to see many Brooklyn-born trends come and go. Are we still in the craft beer phase? I think matcha is the new thing. It used to be homemade cheese. Gross. The commute to school is too long from our current place, so moving will radically change my commute time and barely alter RBD’s.

As I never go to Brooklyn, a few family members suggested I use this travelogue, where I write about life in strange, far off lands, to document my 24 month exile in Brooklyn. It’s an intriguing idea. Maybe together we can discover the mysteries of pour-over coffee and why raspberry beer exists. Plus, again, matcha. What even is that?

The last bit of news to share is the new website is 98% done.

I have one more past trip to enter, but the bulk of everything is uploaded. If you’re new, I invite you to peruse the archives to see old highlights. The advantage of this platform is that anybody can share Cleared For Departure without my involvement. Readers can more easily catch up, and I hope the posts will not get caught in spam filters. If they do, please let me know.

Our trip to Namibia in May is still on. There’s a trip to Cabo in February. Maybe a trip to Curaçao in December? Who wouldn’t want to go back to Iceland in Summer while North America burns? The world is ours to explore, assuming PA school does not consume me. (Everyone I talk to says it will absolutely consume me and sap me of my will to live.) I can’t wait.

Mann tracht, un Gott lacht.

Drop me a line and let me know how you’re doing.

Until we meet again.