Last week was the last poor week of my life.

Admittedly, to me poor means that cute little French restaurant around the corner can only be visited once a month and I only send the minimum payment on my credit cards. (This was only acceptable because I knew this week would eventually come.)

I became a senior resident last month, which allows me to moonlight at the hospital. When I moonlight, I am paid as a physician, rather than a resident. Moonlighting, I make in a day what takes me a week to make as a resident.

Our schedules are demanding enough that I can only squeeze in a day or two per month, but that is all it takes.

Now, understand that I have given up gainful employment for nearly ten years of my adult life, instead going into a quarter of a million dollars debt in student loans.

I will not pay off these loans until after I retire.

If you go into medicine for the money, you are a fool. Go into banking or plumbing if money is your goal. The money is better. The hours are much shorter. The emotional stakes are lower. And the training is briefer.

But still-Congratulations me!