bonjour brightside

everyone is cryish today. i had 3 people cry on me today. the first one was a hapless daughter who was struggling to cope with caring for her morbidly obese mother (who would rather die than accept placement in a nursing home). the next one was an 85 year old gentleman who had recently suffered a minor stroke and was struggling to come to terms with his new diagnosis, and i swear he was bawling like a baby. no matter how much we tried to reassure and comfort him, he was inconsolable and basically cried and cried for an hour. i had never seen a grown man cry so bitterly before and i felt so sad for him but i couldn’t do anything more to make him feel better, so we got a pastor to come and talk to him and i should really have gone home at this point but i went to check up on one of my other patients…… ANDDD. all i did was ask “how are you going Mrs V? feeling better from yesterday?” and omg, she started crying in front of me and i was momentarily stumped. turns out she’d had a rough day, with a million interns/registrars/students wanting to talk to her and examine her when she was quite short of breath and achey all over. i found myself feeling quite uncomfortable and wanting to leave the room but i knew i couldn’t leave her just then, so i did what i should, ie. sat down and held her hand and listened to her talk for half an hour while she dabbed at her tears… i tell you, by the end of the day, i was emotionally spent. the last thing i want to do is to patronise an upset person, but three times in a day is emotional hell and back. and now i think im turning into a sook myself, digging up my emails from 2006 to find some detail i required but ending up chancing upon an email by someone, and i could feel the tears. argh ok vent over off i go to sleep!!!

with myself. sometimes i wish i was stronger……. but that is something i will work on.

in other words, scott schuman otherwise known as the Sart is in town. omg i want to meet him. if he takes my picture (the chances of which, are next to impossible) i will die. D-I-E.

1. unexpectedly finding old new-clothing in the wardrobe

2. popping a pimple

3. finishing the crossword (no i don’t get this very often, some crosswords are impossible to finish)

4. ogling eiffel tower pictures in every possible angle, night + day (i love how it lights up at night against a spangly starry sky)

5. sleeping in on the weekends!!! (i would say i appreciate this the most)

and might i add

hot chocolate + hazelnut gelati + profiteroles = love sweet love <3

i hope your easter was great, i had 4 glorious days of easter break and i spent it with my lovely girlfriends cooking up a storm of a feast and then partying at Seven after (note to self: tequila + vsop = massive headache).

great message at church from one of my favourite pastors, very uplifting and hilarious indeed. shanghainese dumplings and lattes to end off the evening and then on sunday i started the day with hainanese chicken rice (delishhh) and mini-golf! today i had lunch with joyce and friends, who were visiting melbourne for the first time, and i was such a bad host cos i kept getting us lost haha. we took a stroll along the yarra river- my first time in 5 years here, the shame- and it was beautiful. i never realised how lovely the place looked, all scenic and buzzing with life at the same time, and it was really, really great catching up with an old friend too! thanks for meeting up if you’re reading this joyce, i hope you enjoy melbourne!

p.s. it was good to bump into you shu, we need to catch up properly though!

and sorry i haven’t been updating, i guess i had nothing new to report and i didn’t want to whine about the mundane little details of my life. i know i can be such a whinger when life doesn’t treat me well, but i guess everyone goes through a bad patch and we all have to swallow all our bitter pills somehow . tomorrow i start on my new rotation – gen med. i have a feeling i’m going to whinge non-stop in the coming weeks but i’ll try to be positive. if all else fails there’s always chocolate cake from the hospital cafe.