This post has been a long time coming – a result of thoughts that have been mulling around in my brain for a while now. I wrote it in fits and starts, still struggling to squeeze time in to write in the crevasses of the […]

Earth in its elemental form is smooth, shiny wet and a motley of muted colors. The Tawas lake bed I spent the morning picking up rocks from the sandbed, turning them over in my hand as I waded ankle-deep in the cool lake water. It’s […]

“Vivienne?” the voice is both foggy and tinny at the same time, coming at me from some part of this white metal cylinder that currently encases my body. “Yes?” I raise my voice back at the white metal cylinder, hoping it can hear me above […]

I was waiting to write a post that was more well thought-out and structured. Something that could get published somewhere important.  But a few days ago, I was reading through the old posts on my blog and realized I used to do a lot more […]

I woke up one morning in the aftermath of one of those four-hour group lab dinners and knew I had to write this post. So, I rode my bike out in the drizzling rain to the only cafe open at 5:30a.m., set up camp with […]

This baby sweater was knitted as a stress response. It was 10:30a.m. on a Monday morning and I was home, instead of at lab. My project left at the desk of an overworked organic chemist, while I sat in my grey rolling chair, unable to […]

Meredith Grey (Voice over) No one believes that their life will turn out just kind of okay. We all think we are going to be great.  And from the day we decide to be surgeons, we are filled with expectation. Expectations of the trails we […]

You’re supposed to breathe deep when you stretch. I was in a stretch class last Sunday, my legs hovering over the ground in a split position as I silently preached this to myself. “Breathe into it, Vivienne, relax….” the mantra so counter to all that […]

“You just feel stuck.” The words sunk in my heart like stones. “Stuck,” she pushed around the soggy quinoa on the plate with her fork, “you know, when you don’t know where to go from here.” I had added too much water to the quinoa, […]

Saying goodbye to my parents never got easier. We always made it into an event – driving into Toronto always meant a scrumptious Korean lunch out, a brief perusal of the fruit stands in Chinatown for any mangos on sale. “You have the granola right?” […]