I don't want to be a doctor anymore... (5/19/2015)

[batsu-sama]

Well THAT was certainly an unexpected curveball and explains why he is so hesitant to contact her, especially depending on how far into his studies he is.

I know the feeling of "I don't want to do this anymore..." and the fear of what your loved ones will say if you tell them that you are going to bomb out of your course. Personally, I managed to hang on and now I'm due to graduate in roughly 10 weeks ^_^

[PaulJones202718]

Bummer. He just realized that her ambitions and his idea of who he wants to be have had an ugly collision and he realizes that she's going to turn into a screeching monstrosity who wails about ingratitude and so on and so forth.

[wellheck]

Oh well. Still, leave Candi and her mom out of it. Eat and go Candi.

[Triple J]

I simply love how assertive Candi is in this strip. She has no time for his BS and sticks to her guns, telling him what's what and eating that food as fast as possible.

Get the food ate, send the message, and leave. Best thing to do. Don't get dragged into this anymore than you already are.

And whatever sympathy I might have had for this jerk, it was all burned away by his whiny need to have his ego, as well as other things, stroked by Candi when she wanted no part of it.

[BenjaminT]

I simply love how assertive Candi is in this strip. She has no time for his BS and sticks to her guns, telling him what's what and eating that food as fast as possible.

Get the food ate, send the message, and leave. Best thing to do. Don't get dragged into this anymore than you already are.

And whatever sympathy I might have had for this jerk, it was all burned away by his whiny need to have his ego, as well as other things, stroked by Candi when she wanted no part of it.

I've got to agree that Candi has handled this really well. And I, too, have little sympathy for Alex. I can't say I'm too surprised by this. There were so many options of what this might have been so I didn't exactly guess this one but it definitely seems like the kind of thing that would feel really big to Alex but isn't exactly the end of the world.

The thing is, it's not going anywhere. When does he think he'll be able to talk to his grandma? He's not going to fall back in love with the idea of being a doctor. He's just postponing the inevitable. I guess if he's flailing around with his grades he might be thinking that he'll call once he gets his grades back up and another major decided but that could take a LONG time. He just needs to bite the bullet and fess up. I'm sure it will suck as this is Abuela we're talking about here but it's not going to get any better the longer he waits.

[BenjaminT]

BTW, what is that hilarious expression on Candi's face in the first paragraph? Is she nervous about the toppings on that burger or something? haha

[BenjaminT]

Does anyone remember what his major was? I'm thinking Anthropology but can't remember. Changing majors in your Junior year can be a moderately big deal or a huge huge deal depending on what you're changing to and if there is any overlap in course requirements. Being pre-med, if it's anything like it was in my school, he likely was required to take the harder versions of the intro science/math classes so that may give him some flexibility. For instance, he probably took the biology class that biology majors take. Same kind of thing with chemistry and math. If you had a major that didn't require any math classes then you may have taken the base minimum math class required for some general major only. But if you want to go into any of the sciences you may be required to take at least one, if not two calculus classes. If he was premed and mainly focused on his generals for his first two years he may not be that far behind other people when he switches. On the other hand, some majors probably won't even let him try at this point. Candi's major is certainly not a possibility for him, for instance.

[dolphin_8p]

BTW, what is that hilarious expression on Candi's face in the first paragraph? Is she nervous about the toppings on that burger or something? haha

Checking for cheese, suspects Alex is too self absorbed to remember she's lactose intolerant now.

[jazz1m]

Does anyone remember what his major was? I'm thinking Anthropology but can't remember. Changing majors in your Junior year can be a moderately big deal or a huge huge deal depending on what you're changing to and if there is any overlap in course requirements. Being pre-med, if it's anything like it was in my school, he likely was required to take the harder versions of the intro science/math classes so that may give him some flexibility. For instance, he probably took the biology class that biology majors take. Same kind of thing with chemistry and math. If you had a major that didn't require any math classes then you may have taken the base minimum math class required for some general major only. But if you want to go into any of the sciences you may be required to take at least one, if not two calculus classes. If he was premed and mainly focused on his generals for his first two years he may not be that far behind other people when he switches. On the other hand, some majors probably won't even let him try at this point. Candi's major is certainly not a possibility for him, for instance.

Yup his his major is anthro http://candicomics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=565. Maybe he'll decide he likes the idea of becoming an anthropologist/archaeologist more than a doctor. Though someone who is so blind to other people's emotions probably won't be that good at teasing apart cultures.

I'm not sure what he would go into though. Business, politics?

[Longlivetheking]

Well, I wasn't expecting this. I clung to optimistic hope that he'd realized what an ass he'd been and had been, y'know dealing with that.

But yeah, I can understand why he's currently so frustrated/depressed with this revelation to himself. I can relate to not knowing where you want to go, and feeling a little lost. But why Alex feels that he constantly needs to talk to Candi about these problems is beyond me. It also speaks to the fact that Alex doesn't have anyone he considers as close as her, which is bad because he doesn't yet realize he can't have his cake and eat it too.

Yet, as she said after he tried to get comfort from her about Linda, he conveniently forgets that he broke her heart and then stomped all over it.

No Alex, you get to get sympathy from Candi, nor do you deserve it from her.

[Attalus]

Good, the last thing medicine needs is another self-absorbed, barely competent schlub. As I have said all along, the time it was taking him to study was really indicative of how poor a candidate he would be for medical school. Every pre-med I knew was serious about studies ("Why do you have lab on Saturday morning?" Because that is when organic chemistry lab is") But not enough to let it interfere with our social life. Besides, you need to be empathetic enough to hear what the patient isn't telling you.

Oh, and go, Candi, don't let him get away with anything

[Mew-Universe]

Well, dang... I never would've guessed THAT is the reason he's avoiding his grandma. Hopefully we learn why that affects his grandma, though. My guess is maybe she's the one pushing him to be a doctor.

[Weltall84]

Well, well somehow like a lot of others on the board here....this doesn't surprise me. While it wasn't heavily hinted, the little things Abuela said way back, kind of now make a lot of sense. So Alex was pressured/expected to become a Doctor like his Grandad... that actually is expected. Not tying to stereotype but my close friend Alana who is Hispanic (Albeit Mexican instead of Cuban), told me there's still a sort of 'expectation' pressured on the kids in the family. Having living in Florida with Cuban communities, I've seen first hand that there are still some 'expectations' from traditional families that 'this child is going to be so-and-so'.

On the one hand, I can understand the crashing realization that something you're pursuing is not what it's cracked up to be. Been there, done that, and I agree with many that Alex's lack of emotional understanding and being a self-absorbed, two-faced dickhead; made him utterly unsuitable to be a doctor. On the other hand, I feel no sympathy for him because he's being his usual self and trying to dodge responsibility. I also admit there's my bias and dislike of Alex in general and my annoyance that his dodging things has dragged Candi yet again into his drama.

Alex the sooner you accept things, finish what courses you have and find new courses and a new major, the better off you'll be school-wise. As for Abuela; there's no avoiding it and you'll have to deal with the old bat either flipping her shit or being understanding.

[MorrisCat]

First, I love the art in this strip, every panel the expressions are spot on! Great work Starline.

And good work on the plot twist - To me that revelation was more surprising on the face of it than it should have been in retrospect. I can really understand his position - it can be emotionally hard to deal with family expectations and it may *MAY* be financially difficult.

Consider that Abuela raised him and may be footing some of his bills, so she may have more than just the ability to drama-bomb him. In any case it should be interesting to see what he wants to do from here. For all we know he may try art... He thought that Candi's projects look fun.

[Lasenna]

Why do I get the feeling that what he's really trying to say is,
"I realized I'm just not smart enough to pass the classes to be a doctor." As was pointed out many years ago, Alex felt like he needed to study all the time and found his classes hard for relatively simple, freshman-level classes. He wasn't even studying pre-med, he was in anthropology or something, which makes no sense unless he couldn't be accepted into a pre-med program to begin with. (That comment years ago really resonated with me because I thought that poster was right on the money. I'm just sorry I don't remember who it was.)

Correction: I noted the forum thread where Candi said there wasn't a pre-med major option (which is true). But I know many people who went into that field chose to focus on Biology/Anatomy/Human Physiology, or Microbiology, or even Chemistry or Genetics courses. Alex is not doing one of those much more sensible majors if medical was really what he wanted to aim for.