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Last year, for Lent, I gave up meat. It was one of the more difficult things I've voluntarily done in my life, but I managed it. Not only did I feel proud of myself for having set an ambitious goal and achieved it, but I discovered a new, exciting fact: I really did have the capacity to change myself, to reach inwards and shake awake my extremely reticent self-discipline, to do things like eat healthier and lose weight and run a half-marathon, for crying out loud. Flush with remembered success, I decided this year to give up both meat and desserts. A challenge, certainly, but I didn't want to rest on my laurels.

Day two of Lent 2012: FAIL.

A post in honor of my father, who has finally managed to figure out RSS feeds.  Happy pre-birthday, Dad!

Work update

So with the completion of my shift yesterday, I am officially one-fourth of the way through my first assignment. Hard to believe it's gone so fast - although I suppose, given how easily three years slipped by in LA, I shouldn't be surprised when three months feels like the blink of an eye.

I am surprised by how fast I think - I hope - I've caught on here. In the end, I was given a grand total of one shift of orientation, had a couple of days on the stepdown unit, and have been in intensive care (which they insist on calling ITU - InTensivecare Unit? Doesn't make sense, people!) ever since. The first handful of shifts were frustrating, to say the least. Not only was I rusty from four months off, and struggling with the transition to the physical, political, and procedural landscape of a new workplace, but in some ways, things over here seem designed to be handicaps, especially in a critical care setting.

Find of the Day

Came across this at the local farmer's market today:

I promise I asked if they had a smaller size pot.

Oh my.

This, with the application of maybe thirty seconds' worth of elbow grease, whipped up into this:

Not butter...but only just.

Which meant that these had to happen:

What? It's a lot of cream.

And finally:

Not clotted cream, and no jam. Ask me if I care. Go on, ask.

My new modus transportandi! Of course, two days after I hired it came the snow, so it's been garaged until the roads are melted enough for me to venture out again; somehow I find it more nerve-wracking to bike on the wrong side of the road than to drive.

I love how very English it looks - complete with a step-through frame so that I don't muss my, I dunno, hoop skirts or something. All it really needs is a wicker basket on the front instead of that pannier, and I could practically call it a velocipede.

Ox-snow-nian

I think about half of Oxford was out this morning with cameras, post-snow. Not much to this post, just some taster photos and a link to the rest of the album here.

Yeah, that's about it. Enjoy.

Forewarning and apology to lay-friends and family: this is going to be mainly job-related. I had so many unanswered questions going into this - both mine and others' - and I'd like both to describe how I'm finding it over here, and to chronicle my journey as a nurse in the UK. Who knows, maybe someday I'll look back on it and laugh at how green I was.

This picture is actually a lie - personal stethoscopes are a no-no on this unit, so mine is gathering dust on my desk :-(