An Original Photographic of "Poseidon on the Atlantic", copyright, 2004 and 2011, mkrause at mkrause54@yahoo.com or mkrause381@gmail.com.
Poseidon lives in a palace made of coral and gems at the bottom of the sea. This may be Atlantis, the fabled kingdom of truth and beauty.
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Facing the Facts:
3. Be realistic. Don't be disoriented by the "Sirens" of the American Dream of Success.
If you are living "marginally" financially, don't be pulled into the American Nightmare in a run at success you really cannot afford. Living "marginally" may be OK: a nice, but modest apartment, a new or newer car. But it won't allow you to keep up with expenses you are likely to encounter.
Think about what would happen to your finances if your financial aid package did not arrive on time or even until the next semester. Even if you have a part-time job and can cover rent and food, you could be forced to try to borrow money from family or friends, which might forever jeopardize that relationship, even if you can repay the money within days or weeks or months.
What would happen if your car was side-swiped outside the library or stolen from the parking lot behind your apartment? Think about it. It can and does happen. Areas near universities and medical centers are very "high-risk" areas for vehicle and other crime.
Consider the "experiment of life" conducted on a monthlynotesstaff source. It sounds unbelievable but it is true. This serious, motivated medical student was being pulled down financially in a rip-tide of crime.
By the time you recognize the crime wave for what it is, almost everything may be gone. This financial nightmare involved a phenomenal series of expensive events.
First, during the early investigation into medical school application process, the beloved sportscar was side-swiped.
Cost: about $6,600 in early 1980s US dollars.
Second, Mother helped finance a new sporty car. This new car, a reliable model from a reputable manufacturer, probably was serially mechanically vandalized--before it too was side-swiped outside the school library.
Cost: about $14,000 mid-1980s US dollars. Tally: $20,600.
Third, Mother helps again by giving her somewhat older, low mileage Pontiac to the student. Within one week, the Pontiac is stolen from the chain-link fenced parking lot behind the student's apartment.
Cost: about $400 ($223 to repair the steering column "hot wire" damage plus miscellaneous impound and taxi expenses) Tally: $21,000.
Fourth, higher than usual frequency of auto repairs, about every 8 weeks. A free tow to repeat repair visits made it possible to continue to repair the Pontiac.
Cost: about $1,000. Tally: $22,000.
Fifth, finally first entry level job makes new car purchase possible. However, weird accident caused by a local problem driver known to police occurs with damage to NEW car and later unexpected repairs.
Cost: about $3,000 for insurance deductible, rental car, taxi, and later repairs. Tally: $25,000.
Sixth, a series of problems including a small slash on beautiful new convertible roof, a series of locking gasoline caps literally pulled off vehicle, stolen front license plate, a series of "flat tires" in hospital parking lots requiring first experiences with "tire insurance", a late night tow, mechanic to large apartment garage, and unexpected mechanical repairs.
Cost: about $6,500 plus uncompensated time, energy, and frustration. Tally: $31,500.
Seventh, first wallet ever stolen, while studying in the laboratory after a trip to the ATM.
Cost: about $40.00 stolen from wallet and knowledge that someone had been flipping through the wallet (and IDs, credit cards, etc.) and that wallet had been dropped off at Campus Security.
Tally: $31,540.
Eighth, a "lost" $50,000 life insurance policy, taken from apartment and mailbox.
Cost: $50,000 plus premium payments. Tally: $81,540.
Ninth, purchase of private apartment security devices due to apparent break-ins (closets or storage boxes ransacked, closed room doors opened, TV or pantry foods moved while at school or working long shifts), and of course, car alarms.
Cost: about $1,000. Tally: $82,540.
Tenth, travel, including moving trucks, for job interviews and "audition"-type short-term jobs for possible long-term contracts, are incredibly expensive. Meanwhile, camera equipment and other items were stolen.
Cost: $1,000 in stolen camera equipment plus loss of naivete after dealing with "head-hunting" employment agencies. Tally: $82,540, excluding travel expenses.
Eleventh, later a stolen late model car after dealing with "professional" employment
agencies and being tracked by school and hospital financial groups ("gangs").
Cost: $25,000.
Tally: $107,540.
$107,540!--Crime-related losses to one nice, polite individual, excluding vehicle and apartment deposits, fees, moving, storage, damaged personal and professional items, travel and other expenses.
Keep in mind none of these losses were reimbursed or compensated for by "good", expensive, and sometimes multiple insurance policies.
An occasional item was taken and returned, for example, a $300 stack of books and equipment taken from a university laboratory, was later returned.
There are also the bizarre offers of "deals". A student asked our source to say about $1,200 laboratory equipment had been stolen, file an insurance claim, get a second set, and give it to or sell it to the "deal maker" for a nominal amount.
This monthlynotesstaff source believes there are business groups so aggressive they are better termed "gangs", involving contacts from school and related school lists, hospitals/medical centers and their contractors, private and government-related credentialing agencies, employment agencies, and business and sales list buyers/sellers. These gangs stalk, menace, and harass young professionals and cause the loss of or steal the equivalent or in excess of income stated for credit card and other financial applications or statements.
The loss of time, energy, money and the psychological and emotional toll on the young professional can be overwhelming, a saga of crime and expense.
(Read more on future blogs on An Answer to the Question: "Is There Life After Medical School?" on http://monthlynotesfourteen.blogspot.com).
Email mkrause54@yahoo.com or mkrause381@gmail.com to comment or request copies of this or other blogs posted by mary for monthlynotesstaff on http://monthlynotesfourteen.blogspot.com (currently accessed through http://monthlynotes.blogspot.com) on www.google.com.
Graphic: An Original Photographic of "Poseidon on the Atlantic", copyright, mkrause, 2004 and 2011, at mkrause54@yahoo.com or mkrause381@gmail.com.
Reference: www.wikipedia.com.
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