Boyfriend D

I met D about 2 months ago through Grindr. We chatted and messaged for a week before I invited him for a drink at my place. To be frank, I didn't plan anything other than having a good beer talk and getting to know each other better. It somehow progressed from sitting on a coach watching Aussie Open drinking Fat Yak to some activities and cuddling. We had a midnight snack and he stayed over night.

Spoon me, please

We talked about how did we ended in bed - I blamed him for starting the kiss while he blamed me for seducing him. He said that inviting a gay guy over for a drink is a recipe for something to happen, and how naive I was, lol. A week later, we went cycling along Capital City Trail and had a brunch out at St. Ali. As we got to know each other more, we found that we have a fair number of things in common - coffee, wine, cycling, fine arts, classical music, and Cooking! At first, I thought he is a local, but it turned out he is a Kiwi. So I got him to make some good lamb roast. I have to admit seeing a guy wearing an apron is a big turn-on :) We talked a lot about relationship and how it should be constructed, as he wasn't ready for a relationship and I never dated a guy before.

Then we decided to make it official and made the date that we're actually a couple. So far everything has been great. I still remember there was time when I almost gave up the hope of having a boyfriend, and just date women instead. My mates now start pestering me about when they get to meet the lucky guy. They are a nosy funny bunch, aren't they?

Coming out to high school besties

I just had a housewarming for my high school close friends on St. Patrick's day.  They were away when I threw the first housewarming party a while back, so this one was for them. There were four of us that are quite close and still in Melbourne - a few others have moved elsewhere, and the contact sort of fades. I have been thinking about this for ages, but could not bring it up at all even though one of them had asked me if I'm gay previously. Well, I shot off "Nah" quickly without hesitation then explaining how my uni life keeps me busy from finding a girl- the best defence is a quick answer that sounds genuine, isn't it? However, she even said she's okay if I am, despite me saying "Nah". Girls are usually pretty good at this stuff, eh?

To my high school mates, at last

S, A and B are my high school friends. We have known each other for roughly 7 years. They were all invited, but B got an emergency work call and S came a bit later with her boyfriend. After having some Mojito that I made, we sat leisurely listening to my heart-felt iPod playlist. The night was good and homey. I had my courage up, but could not find the right timing. Right after they left my place, I decided that I wouldn't want to keep it away from them anymore, so I texted S, A, and B saying that I have a boyfriend. Even though B didn't come to the housewarming, I wanted everyone in the circle to be on the same page.

The summary of their response is as followed:

S: She said "Congrats" and told me that she is very happy for me. Then she wanted me to tell her about my boyfriend D. She tried to stalk him on Facebook, but couldn't see much, so she asked me a photo. I obliged and her reply was " So cute! Well done, GVP :D" She also said that I have a lot of questions to answer her now.

A: He went "OoOoo, how come you didn't mention it earlier?" After that, he said that this doesn't change anything, and that we're still good friends. He also asked me to leave some time to hang out and for playing tennis with him too.

B: "Have a glass of wine for a new lol. I support you!" Then he said that he was sorry because he couldn't come to the party, and I can explain everything to him later when we catch up.

Although, they felt a bit upset that most of my vet mates have been told before them, everything went well. I feel a tad guilty for not having told them in person, but at least they all know now. They warned me that we will be having a long coffee/dinner with an interrogation session soon, haha.  Pretty soon, they will be asking me to drag my boyfriend D for our brunch out. It's a huge weight off my shoulders and another big step. The next would be my family at the end of this year once I finished uni and become financially independent.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I don't think I have ever mentioned that my groupmate Z and I have a thing for English and Irish. And we are a big fan of bands like Celtic Thunder and Celtic Woman. We both aim to do further study and specialise in UK in the near future.

Green!

Well, he was busy studying, so I went out with my boyfriend D for an Irish lunch. Oppps, I just realised I haven't done a post dedicated to D yet - that is to be followed soon, I guess :) We decided to pope into The Elephant & Wheelbarrow Pub in the city. Everyone in the pub was wearing green except us, haha. There was a special Irish menu. I had Guiness pork sausages and a pint of Guiness while D went for a steak pie. And I got a Guiness St. Patrick's Day hat. The meal was great and the plates were clean. Then we were contemplating if we should have some sweet bites afterwards.

We heard someone playing a bagpipe as well. It could have gotten more Irish if there were kilts and a bit of folksongs :)

Life, study milestone and Turtle

It felt like only yesterday when I received an offer letter from the vet school. Oh, how much time has passed. Passing through the first year as a naive science student, then having a little family dramatic turmoil which was related to parental disapproval of studying to be a vet. It led to a gap year away from uni, and spending solid quality time at home with parents.

After all these years of studying abroad, and only getting to see them once or twice a year for a short period, my parents were like strangers to me. It took me by surprise when I actually realised this fact. Perhaps, the feeling is not dissimilar catching up with your lost long close friends. Something remain nostalgically the same, but some change with time. Now I'm getting really for some quality time at home with family, and maybe coming out to them is about due at the end of this year after graduation.

Finally, I have reached the promised year of lecture-free. Relaxing as it may sound, it has turned out to be rather mentally and physically draining in a different way compared to attending 8 lectures in a day. We have been rotating through different aspects of veterinary medicine each week - general practice, small animal medicine, anaesthesia, small animal, diagnostic imaging ie. radiology, pathology woot!, production animal ie. sheep, cows, alpacas, critical care and emergency medicine, and public health, etc. Also not to mentioned self-organised extramural placements in veterinary practices, and a 6500 words literature review to be submitted for journal publication. Sometimes, life can be uncertain, but I'm pretty sure that I will be having a holiday-free year, Gahhhh. Many of us have adopted to survive on a weekly basis due to information overload, the steep learning curve and sleep deprivation.

Clinical-wise, I have done bits of everything including castrations, spaying, and seen lots of blood and gore. That's alright til I went for dairy farm visits on a stormy Melbournian weather. We did pregnancy testing on 80 cows ie. shoving one whole arm up the cow's rectum. The weather was being unfriendly, and we were soaked as well as got pooed on our face, because some cows decided to shoot some organic projectile to us. Large animal vet - Nah, I'm sure it's not my thing.

Not the one I saw, but similar clinical presentation

My highlight as a veterinary pathologist wannabe was figuring how to humanely euthanise a run-over turtle. After consulting a book on exotic pet medicine and website (have a look for pictures and more detail if you're curious), I proceeded through the steps. It was rather brutal visually, but at least pain was minimal. Then I took every opportunity to learn from the dead, therefore a post-mortem examination was performed, and it was the right decision to euthanise the turtle since its pelvis was broken in pieces, in addition to cracks and fistulas (holes) in its carapace, which exposed the organs to the environment. It's similar to having holes in the tummy, and the intestines poke out to say a greeting. The turtle was beyond the stage that it could be saved.

Another way to swiftly kill an turtle is blunt trauma to the head, especially if it is found in the middle of no where and can't be transported to a vet - find a big boulder (bigger than the turtle's head obviously) and smash the head forcefully. This is even more barbaric to see, but it is more humane than leaving the turtle to dry off and die in heat. The method was recommended by a wildlife research fellow.

Anyway, it is quite scary that I am going to be a vet in roughly 8 months! Where has my time gone?