So here it is: the first real day of my residency program. When you're a kid, you'd think that by your mid-twenties you'll be a confident and capable adult. When you're in your mid twenties, you realize that you're still that same kid. You realize this ever so sharply on your first day of anything - high school, college, work, medical school, etc. Residency is no exception; you're constantly getting lost, running late, nervously eying the older and more experienced, and just trying not to make a fool of yourself. Every new establishment, be it high school, college, or residency, has its own hazing tradition for newcomers. I wonder what mine will be?<br/><br/>I say today is my first real day because yesterday was just a welcome from the Chief of Medicine followed by a boring orientation around the hospital. Hornell Hospital is impressive in size, and getting lost should not be difficult. Oh well, just treat it like chicken pox - you go through it once wishing you were never born, and then you're immune for life (or until you change location again).<br/><br/>Back in the blissful ignorance of my teenage years I thought that being a doctor was about helping people. Turns out it's mostly about dictating and sorting through convoluted patient charts. What the hell - for every hour I spent in the hospital today, I spent only about 10 minutes with patients. Does that make me a half-assed doctor? No, that makes me a sixth-assed doctor which is even worse. Can't waste time, must finish updating paperwork before next patient arrives. Must... finish... paperwork! Ow, ow, cramp.