Galapogos

Round 36: August 2044 (Winter)

Mitchell Carmody is 25 and Tim Lane and Eddie Gentry are 24. 
(Austin and Lauren are 23 and Caitlin is 21)

Narrated by Mitchell Carmody

Eddie and I feel like we hardly ever see Tim these days.

He almost lives at the hospital and when he is actually home, he’s usually sleeping.

This is his first year of his internship, so he’s got this year and next year before he starts his residency.

He doesn’t expect his hours to improve that much though. He says residents generally have pretty heavy schedules as well.

It’s really hard on his relationship with Marius, because they don’t see each other that often and Tim is exhausted when they do.

Last year, they were both studying and working, so they were in the same kind of situation. But Marcus has finished his architecture master’s now, so he’s basically doing a normal work week. 

Tim works a minimum of 80 hours every week and it’s often more. It doesn’t leave much time for anything else. 

Once Tim starts his residency, he’ll still be working crazy hours but for more money. He told us that at that point, he and Marius will likely get their own place, if only so it’s a bit easier to see each other. 

Restaurant hours can be hard but I have it easiest of the three of us. At least when I have a day off, it’s actually a day off. Not like there’s ever a cooking emergency going down, especially at a small restaurant like mine. 

My hours aren’t the most conducive to actually doing anything fun at night, but being very single at the moment, it’s not like I have a ton to do with that time anyway. 

I’m the only single guy in the house, now that Eddie has got back together with my sister Lauren.

Any time Eddie has a night off, he can be found with Lauren. 

Lauren lives with her roomies just across the street from us, so they’re in and out of each other’s apartments all the time. 

I don’t mind. It’s fun seeing Lauren more often and Eddie is a good guy. If he and Lauren end up together for good, I’d be happy with that.

They seem really solid at the moment. I know Lauren has done a lot of maturing since graduation and I’m hoping that means she and Eddie can work out this time.

Last week, the three of us caught up with Austin and his girlfriend Nora. 

It seems a bit strange that Austin is in the longest-running relationship of all of us. He and Nora have been together for four years now.

I’m glad for him but I can’t say I’m not also a bit envious. I really thought I’d be in a serious relationship by 25 and it hasn’t happened.

I was dating Christina for a while and that fizzled out. She was very abrasive and rude to a couple of my friends, which I didn’t like. 

And then she didn’t show up to my family’s Christmas thing when she said she would, which was the last straw. So I’ve been on my own since then.

There’s someone I might be interested in though. I’ve only told Tim and I haven’t decided if I’m going to act on it yet.

It’s Caitlin. While she was dating Eddie, I got to know her as more than just the girl who had a crush on me when she was 12. She’s actually pretty great and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her since she and Eddie split.

I’ve run into her a couple of times since. She was in town again a while ago, when she was staying with her parents during her midyear break. 

I felt like there was something there - a little connection, maybe - so I’m hopefully not basing this on nothing.

Tim thinks I should call her and see if she wants to go out but I’m not positive I want to do that just yet.

Mainly, I just don’t know how Eddie would feel about it. 

He’s definitely moved on with Lauren but I’m not sure if he’d feel awkward about me taking Caitlin out.

I guess I won’t know until I talk about it with him. My gut says he’d be okay with it but I don’t want to make a move until I know for sure. 

Notes:

• Title is from Galapogos by Kay Hanley.
• I did a little bit of reading about medical intern hours and they are super full on! It's 80 hours a week minimum and often up to 100. 12 hour shifts are not unusual and they are actually advised to grab a nap during the shift if they possibly can. I don't know why it never occurred to me before but it sort of blew my mind a bit. So Tim is pretty busy at the moment. 
• Eddie just got promoted in the fire service, so he's back on night shifts. He probably suffers more in game, because Tim's hours are only imaginary (in game, Tim works 9-6, 5 days a week) and Eddie's are real. Ditto Mitchell's. The hours for the Culinary career in game are much lighter than in real life. 
• Mitchell has very high chemistry with Caitlin, which I've known since they were younger and Caitlin had a little crush on him for a bit. I'm very keen for them to couple up, because they make so much sense to me together. They're only just friends in game though, so they're not at the romance level yet. I'll update on them, as well as Eddie's opinion, soon. I'm so glad I started doing birthdays the way I do them now - makes dealing with story situations like this a lot easier!