I'm a kind of paranoiac in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy.

• Getting the Squeeze out of Life
• Holy Crap. What hasn't happened over the past few months since I last posted something on this blog? The problem with posting infrequently is that the enormity of the body of stories you need to catch up on writing grows, making the task more overwhelming with time. So, if you'll beg my pardon, I'm going to try and just list the important points...

• Penguin Proposed. I should have seen it coming but I really, truly didn't. He proposed at home, one on one, and gave me a beautiful button ring that he designed himself. I didn't even hesitate to say yes... in fact, I said yes so quickly that Penguin didn't get to make the speech he planned before I sat down on the couch quietly hyperventilating with joy. The ring is a button because buttons hold things together. But buttons can't work alone: they need a hole that's just the right size, just like Penguin is just the right fit for me! The 4 holes at the center represent the 2 of us and our 2 families, with the thread that ties us all together. The thread makes an X and the button makes an O, for XO, or LOVE!






• As an added bonus, Penguin has also acquired a job out here in Winnipeg - so, for the first time in the 5 years that we've been dating, we finally live in the same city (not to mention the same apartment). Cohabitation has been pure Eden. Everyone warned us that there would be bumps along the way as we transitioned from living independently to living with each other but frankly, we haven't really noticed them because we're both just so grateful to have each other around all the time. It really is incredible.
• Lastly, I'm almost done my first year of residency!!! And (a) I'm not dead, and (b) I haven't killed anyone (yet). I didn't realize how much I'd learned or how far I'd come until we had a patient come in at 4 am one night while I was on the acute care service. I was alone in the hospital - my senior and attending had both gone home to sleep - and this patient arrived somnolent, septic, and unstable. I didn't hesitate: 2 large bore IVs, 2L of normal saline under pressure, stat blood work, upright chest xray, EKG, antibiotics... and without having to ask for help (although I called my senior to give them a head's up on the situation), I flooded that patient with 6L of fluid and had them stabilized and ready for the OR in a matter of 2 hours. It turned out that they had a gastric ulcer that had perforated, creating a hole in the stomach the size of my fist. Had the same patient come in during the first few months of my residency, I would have been filled with uncertainty and certainly needed my senior there to guide me through their care. It was a big turning point for me when I realized that I knew how to deal with an unstable patient all on my own.

• Recipe I've Been Drooling Over
• Penguin recently made these "Boyfriend Approved Vegan Burgers" and I've got to say that they're pretty delightful. We ate them with hummus instead of catsup and it was awesome.

• Favourite Thing on Etsy this Week
• Best. Cat. Toy. Ever. (It's even organic, too!)

• What I'm Reading Right Now
• I've read 2 books in the past few months... When God was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman, which in my opinion is on par with Come Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant (aka the best book ever!). The other is Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson, which is hilarious and frivolous (the best kind of study break, in my opinion).

• TED Talk I Watched This Week
• As suggested by a good friend, here's a TED Talk on vulnerability. Enjoy!

• Song of the Week
• This week, Penguin is away at a conference. While living together is pretty damn blissful, there is still something to be said for those times when one finds themselves alone in the house. It's an opportunity to shower with the bathroom door open, to wear only your underwear while making dinner, to eat only crackers for dinner without someone heckling your lousy nutrition... I used to think that by doing these things every day when I lived alone, I'd never be remediated into normal company again but it turns out that it's not hard to be civilized when the man you love is around. So, now that my alone time is scarce (which is exactly how I like it), I do my best to enjoy it. This video strongly attests to some of the antics I get up to when Penguin is away.

• Thing I'm Most Grateful for This Week
• Having Penguin here in Winnipeg with me. He sacrificed a lot to come out here, start a new job, and still barely gets to see me as I race back and forth between long hours at work and too few hours spent sleeping. I sometimes wonder how I'm ever going to really show him just how much it means to me.

• Thing I'm Most Looking Forward to This Week
• Hitting the gym more often. I've been slacking for the last little while and I'm looking forward to re-establishing some balance.

• Bunny Photo of the Week
• No available bunny photo this week. Although I can report that Hoyle has settled in well with his new buddy, Penguin's kitten Zoe. Hoyle immediately established the leadership role and Zoe has been running scared ever since. Hoyle also outweighs Zoe by a few pounds, so I don't blame her for being nervous around him. Haha.