Ugh, your boss sounds awful and reminds me of way too many teachers and people I have worked for that I'd rather forget. Glad you've found ways to make the best of it, but keep your eyes open for a better place if there is one. "Building character" or whatever they call it nowadays shouldn't come at the cost of making people snap and turn into axe murderers :p

Good luck with all the learnings! Sounds like it's going well and tough in a good way, hopefully! I have squash soup on the menu as well, whenever I get motivated to dig out the blender again ^^;;