March 23, 2022

by Dr. Plastic Picker

It’s been a moment and a half since I blogged dear readers. The last blogpost “What does 끝 (kkeut) mean in Korean? To Finish” where I essentially announced my departure from middle management on my own terms was a big moment on this blog. It will deserve it’s own chapter in my book. We headed out for Joshua Tree to take my daughter’s Girl Scout Troop camping right afterwards and I was on digital detox. I hung out with my mommy friends and we had Teslas and Priuses dropped off our gear, as overprotective Asian physician husbands hovered at a nearby posh hotel. The Girl Scout mommies were truly primative camping in tents, as 20 hour per mile winds were blowing hard enough that our tents became unstaked. The girls learned to dig primative toilets, conserve water while camping, and we made so many memories that I can close my mind and the bird sounds and vistas come rushing back. This is how much water we had for a group of 12 camping.

It was less than 24 hour at the campsite, but our troop earned three badges including the Girl Scout Natural Resources Badge which is truly beautiful and given by the National Park Service. And most importantly the camping troop reminded me that I am going to be fine. I’m going to be totally fine as I decided to 끝 (kkeut) my Assistant Boss career. I laughed and was a wife and a mother, and a climate and health advocate.

And guess what dear readers? After many emails to the Oregon Truffle guru and forming the Azalea Truffle Exploratory Committee, we received a response from Professor Charles (not the Xmen professor Charles but the Truffle Professor Charles) and there are likely not enough truffles on our land to make it worth it. So the Truffle Farming is 끝 (kkeut) as well. And you know what dear readers? It’s totally fine. It was a good idea and we tried, and it didn’t work. At least I found out before we brought truffle pigs and truffle dogs to the farm.

So now both with the Truffle Farm and my career, you now pivot. I had pivoted three years ago already when I started doing climate and health work. I pivoted to a part of medicine that is fun and easy, and impactful. I’m simply trying to save the earth, as patient satisfaction scores and reports on netloss kind of pale in comparison to stopping code red for humanity. And with the Truffle Farm we are also going to pivot. We are going to build a tree house!

Now I’m Ecosia searching Tree House and I guess there is a show called Tree House Masters? Their tree house averages 80K? I’m sure we could do it better and cheaper? Do you think they’d profile Dr. Plastic Picker on TV? That would be really interested. So the thoughts of truffles and middle management are receeding, and two people have now mentioned off-hand that they said I was walking around differently. “The weight of world is off your shoulders” said two work-friends. And indeed dear readers, as I sat at my thrid to last middle management monthly meeting – I felt that too.