It is very strange to be without the internet at home. It's been a good break from being excessively plugged in but also hard because it means no video chatting with my babies who are far away.
It's really weird to not have access to any social media or news. I'm in this bubble where the only news I get is from the local paper that is usually in the break room, and even then, they really only cover local things (police officer killed in the line of duty, family of dead shooter says he was a nice guy and leave us alone, upcoming school events, etc.).
I caught up on blogs today and it blows my mind how out of touch I have been and yet how nice it is to read a physical book too. I'm not sure I properly remember the time before I caught up with friends online.
The big challenge is applying for jobs. On weeknights my borrowed internet at a neighbor's house is too slow for most online application sites, on weekends I am either busy or fed up with more applications. I didn't match but I'm not done scrambling for a residency yet, so it's hard to feel super driven to apply for things like I really should. Then again after the grueling residency application and interview process, I'm also a bit burned out on the whole thing.
It's a very complex experience trying to keep how much I miss home in check so I can remain functional on this rotation. It has all sorts of awesome opportunities and projects (that mostly require the internet to complete... hmm...) and I need to keep my head in the game. Everyone keeps asking if I miss the girls, and I never quite know what to say. If I think about it too long, I just cry, and it's awkward to cry at work or during a party, so I've been not thinking about it much, only crying every couple of days. I did a lot more crying my first rotation away and then was only kind of successful at getting my head in the game for my first rotation after winter break, so I know what I shouldn't be doing...
The other big thing I miss now that the internet is mostly unavailable is library downloadable books. My mobile doodad only connects to the interwebz over wifi and my borrowed internet is wired only so it means no new books for me. Given that I have a remarkable amount of time to read on this rotation (when I'm not working on projects or actually at work or theoretically studying for my boards) this is HARD. Luckily I have a heap of physical books I could be reading, but few have struck my fancy and there are no libraries or book stores here...
Next weekend I'm going to the city (6 hours away) and I am certainly going to get some new books, either digital or physical, so I don't get stir crazy and start hiking in ill-fitting shoes or something. Any suggestions? I'm interested in just about anything but especially sci fi/fantasy, romances that aren't awful, and non-fiction related to science or sociology or history (but not WWI) or maybe even parenting.
