at work, the six of us spend two hours deciding what we're going to eat for lunch. silvia walks around with a pen and a pad of paper asking everyone, "what do you want?" they ask her back, "well, where are you going?" and she replies, "i don't know. what do you want?"

it takes us more energy to decide what to have for lunch on any given day than the total amount of energy we exert in helping patients for that whole particular week. then there's the clamor of no correct change. we pick one unfortunate soul to go pick up our order, and i give them my debit card. "charge mine," i say. silvia gives a debit card as well. diana only has five bucks; linda only has a twenty. mary's got a handful of quarters, and john's left his wallet at home. so it goes, and two people always end up paying for 75% of the order. i spent 30 dollars at boston market the other day. for a small salad.

sometimes i say, "i'm not eating out today. i brought my 'healthy choice' entree." this results in silvia getting a pouty look on her face. "lunch is fun," she insists. "you can only have fun if you order out like us."

i give in. "fine," i say. "where are you going?"

"i don't know," she replies, "what do you want?"

those healthy choice meals- you need to have about two before you can begin to feel full. and if you have two, people look at you like you're a wierdo.