last night I took a break from studying (because somehow this year I transitioned from a machine that didn't need breaks to a weakling who can't study for more than a few hours without wining about it) to go sing karaoke and drink beer with Ethan and friends at the Maple Point. I really wanted an all-Michael Jackson tribute night, but they only had 4-5 of his songs (lotts of country stuff at the maple point... along with girls who try to do imitations of their favorite female country artists and end up sounding like cats do when you try and give them a bath). I still got in a "Way you make me feel", followed of course by "Holding out for a hero", including dancing. Because dancing is a must when you're singing 80's karaoke.
Let's just say that my tolerance has dropped a little bit since college (erm... and first year of med school) so studying today has been pretty painful. I'll be honest, I'm taking frequent breaks to look up beginners crochet projects online, because I picked up the hobby while recovering from my surgery and I'm still not sure I'm doing it right. I think I may just be doing rogue random stitches that I invented, and my first large project (a small blanket) ended up a trapezoid rather than a rectangle, but it's still fun and it keeps my hands busy. And I just end up stretching out the shorter end so that it looks fairly symmetrical and I'm okay with that.

In other news, our dog almost killed himself last weekend chasing a polaris around Ethan's parent's pool. He swam for two hours chasing it and barking at it but never caught it (it was pretty funny to watch him almost catch it and then the tail would spray him in the face! ha.) When we got home he threw up pool water (on tile thank goodness) and then slept for two days. Crazy pup.

hilarious

this is hilarious

"Once you let go of the need to express your thoughts to your family, you suddenly feel much lighter...You just float along blissfully, finally liberated from the burden of having any presence at all. It's sort of like getting to return to the womb"

it feels like that sometimes, doesn't it? I personally see absolutely no point in arguing anything. People don't change their minds through argument, because both sides are on the defensive, so it just turns into a petty tit-for-tat list of reasons why the other person is wrong, eventually degenerating into finger-pointing and name calling and screaming down the hallways of public places, which isn't pleasant at all. My M.O. when someone has an opinion they want to loudly voice is to calmly tell them they're wrong (or alternatively say nothing), then either leave the situation or change the subject. You may call it "ignore and retreat". People who would try and change my mind through argument end up just driving me away.

Because I know that time is always time
And place is always and only place
And what is actual is actual only for one time
And only for one place
I rejoice that things are as they are...

an amazing product.

First, there was the agricultural revolution
Then, there was the industrial revolution
Next, the technological revolution
Now, there's the butt-wiping revolution? it's about freaking time.



Maintain your dignity. buy a butt-wiping stick for fat people.

I want this

there are few times that I see something wedding-related and immediately think "oooh... i want that!"

Today I stumbled across this picture that made me say just that.


I love things arranged in color order (like our book and DVD collections). And I love full-sugar fizzy drinks. I don't play around with artificial sweeteners because they do unpleasant things to my belly. But old-fashioned and organic sodas in glass bottles arranged in color order? hell yes! we'd already planned on having some Mexican Coca-cola (because sugar tastes better than corn syrup no matter what the corn farmers of America say) but I think various colorful sodas would be super pretty and hopefully yummy.

Our other foods? honey-baked ham (because who doesn't like a honey-baked ham!? they're absolutely delicious!) smoked turkey, some salads, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, cupcakes, and other random yummies. We're making all the food ourselves (besides honey-baking the ham, of course) We're pretty much doing all of everything ourselves actually, because (unsurprisingly) otherwise we would not be able to pay for a wedding on two student's living allowances. Hopefully it will make it more home-grown and meaningful. Or at least that's what I'm trying to convince myself.

top 10ish.

top 10 reasons I love Ethan
1. he thinks I'm the greatest thing since sliced bread
2. he is completely open and honest with me, and doesn't change the subject if I ask hard questions
3. when I get too enthusiastic about telling him what needs to be done or giving him directions in the car, he asks me for even more directions (i.e. "well should I turn into the driveway babe?") instead of getting mad and calling me names
4. He knows exactly when I've had a bad or tiring day and he will magically have made dinner or take me out for a soul-calming pizza and beer... and he'll order my favorite kind of pizza instead of his.
5. We have serious conversations about the cinematography and entertainment value of movies like "X-men; Origins". He also likes the same kind of nerdy movies that I like, so I can watch them without shame.
6. He helps with housework
7. We have random conversations about Southern blotting and western blotting and novel mechanisms of drug creation over 32 oz Shiner beers. Also, he uses TGF-Beta as a verb sometimes.
8. If I ask for his opinion on something, he genuinely takes hours or days to think it over before giving me a well thought-out and logical response.
9. he is extremely loyal and super generous with the people that he loves, which makes me feel even more lucky that I am one of them.
10. He can talk me down when I get upset or irrationally anxious about something.
11. He can entertain himself for an hour or so with a scientific calculator.
12. When I told him I was making this list, he said I was being really cheesy. But since we both appreciate fine cheeses, I took it as a compliment.
13. He likes to play scrabble... and he's really good at it. He's beat me twice, and both times I was an extremely poor loser.
14. I ran over the ten reason limit because there are so many reasons to love him.

Not a huge amount going on this weekend. We saw the new Terminator movie yesterday and were both pretty disappointed. It went something like: "Terminator shoots at or punches human/ human tries to shoot terminator in the head till it dies/ lots of explosions/ CGI naked Schwarzeneggar". There was really no good hand to hand combat, and the chase scenes weren't anything to write home about. I felt like I'd seen most of it already but in different action movies, and this one was just a patchwork of random rejected scenes. A highlight of yesterday was a kick-ass pot roast made by my extremely handsome counterpart. Today we slept in, went to church, went to Taco Cabana, came home and napped for several hours, then went out for TCBY. Peaceful and fun and relaxing and wonderful. Tomorrow I start Pediatric ER, where I have to do 15-17 8 hour shifts in four weeks. Doesn't sound too terrible to me! But I'll also be studying for my Step 2 exam, which I'm taking semi-early because I want to have it over and done with. Enough with the long-ass tests. In the past year, I've taken one 7 hour tests and 7 2 hour tests, and I'm just ready to stop filling bubbles at this point.

pineapple, fried egg, and beet root? oh my!

The other day while researching the best way to season hamburger meat for our Memorial Day cookout (ended up doing 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp onion powder 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper for each lb of meat) I stumbled across a recipe for an Australian-style hamburger. And I was captivated. In my food-eating experience, I have noticed that sometimes things that initially sound like they would be absolutely disgusting actually end up being pretty tasty. (e.g. balsamic-vinegar-flavored ice cream... it was awesome). The Australian burger was one of those things that was simultaneously kind of repulsive but I knew that I would have to try it to find out. I also figured that it couldn't be that bad if a whole bunch of Australians have all collectively decided that this is the best way to top a burger. The ingredients:
hamburger patty
toasted Bun
slice of cheddar cheese
fried onions
pickled beet slices (from a can)
pineapple ring, grilled or fried
hard-fried egg
bacon
sliced tomato
lettuce
barbecue sauce

The resultant burger was colorful, if somewhat unwieldy.


Ethan and I both agreed that the burgers were actually very nice; the flavors combined to create a comfortably exciting taste. And Reagan appreciated being fed the scraps that we weren't able to finish because the burgers were so freaking ginormous. We won't make burgers this way every time (it's more labor intensive because of frying the onion, pineapple, bacon, and egg) but it definitely be kept in our burger-making rotation. I'm really happy that E is as adventurous an eater as I am; one of our favorite things to do is stay home with a bottle of beer or a glass of wine and and try cooking and eating new kinds of foods. Also, he doesn't make fun of me if I tear up during a tv show (watched the Grey's season finale last night online... it was a little too heavy)

Ethan and the dingo:


Now we're going to go out and sing karaoke and drink Shiner in honor of me finishing family medicine. I have succeeded in getting Ethan hooked on karaoke, which is pretty much perfect.

I own a Dingo?!

Yesterday while E and I were perusing YouTube videos of African Wild Dogs fighting Hyenas (because who wouldn't want to watch that?), we stumbled upon a picture of a real, full-bred Dingo. And we realized immediately that our beloved Reagan was probably not, as we suspected, a hybrid of a Basenji and something else, but more resembled a full-blown Dingo! For comparison:
Pictures of Reagan:





Pictures of Real Dingos



Picture of a Basenji:


See what I mean? we're pretty convinced that Reg's a Dingo! Although all the neighborhood kids ask us if we have a pet fox, then ask to pet him :)

Done with Family... Medicine.

I am almost freaking done with Family Medicine, which has been both exhausting and slightly boring. Example: today I spend several minutes trying to see the back of a squirming and crying 15-month-old's throat, with little success. Difficult? yes. Particularly interesting? no. The days that I'm busy are usually filled with well-child exams and viral upper respiratory infections. The day's I'm not are somewhat of a relief. Okay, I'll admit it; I love it when patients don't keep their appointments, because it means that I might get to leave early. I suppose that proves that I shouldn't be doing family med (not that it needed proving). It's not the worst rotation I've been on because the hours are good and I have weekends off, but I'm not feeling very inspired right now. Which is probably why I have hardly studied at all, even though my test is in two days (oops).

Tonight for dinner we had roasted garlic and warm chevre crusted with pecans. It was delicious. And also wine, because wine is good for study skills. And I might eat some guacamole in a little bit, because E made some while he was at home today. deelish!