December 10-13
Friday, December 10
Hurm. Fridays are always the hardest days to find happy spots. I get knitting done in meetings, but it is an organized soaking in the shared negativity process.... But while Betsy did foolishly say she'd do the extra lectures (1/3 of our teaching load is done by an adjunct, as yet non-existent) this spring if there was no one else (I've been telling her to stop saying that, as it makes it unlikely they'll look too hard for anyone), I then managed to maneuver the discussion into having last year's adjunct (who is this year's new full-timer for the first year class) do it since she already has the lectures prepped from last time. All set. We'll just ignore the fact that Kay has since changed her mind -- this made me happy on Friday, and for several days afterwards.
Also happy that the college's Christmas party involved lots of Chinese food and cake. I then left at a decent hour, and then I got all my work done for the other school's clinical evals Saturday, so the evening didn't include my usual procrastinatory scramble.
Saturday, December 11
Clinical evals went well, in the face of angst that they wouldn't, since I had to confront my favorite student on some of her problematic behaviors. I was even more anxious, since they gave me a thank-you present which had clearly been selected by this student -- the game Small World (there's a reason she's my favorite -- the most SWILish student I've had in ages) -- and I thought she'd be upset and regretting her spot-on generosity. But it all went well, with a good, long discussion of all sorts of stuff. And I got a really fantastic gift!
And it was a happy clinical day in general, saying goodbye to all the folks there, knowing I'll be back in January (this is my favorite unit, and I recently found out that I get to be on it this spring! Huzzah!), and having them all happy to say they'll see me then.
In the evening, West Wing made me happy. As an added layer, having children who love West Wing (and Aaron Sorkin in general) makes me happy and proud.
Sunday, December 12
A truly excellent day!
First, went to the Foxboro Unitarian Universalists for church. I'd been there once before, the first service of the fall, and it was very "catching up on organizational details" ish. The people were friendly, but preoccupied with reconnecting with each other in the after-service time. This week was a regular service. Started with me being early, and so getting to meet the 3-wk-old baby being introduced today, which was very cool (held her hand during diaper change, and she stopped crying!). And then when they had the time to share joys/sorrows with the lighting of a candle (as most churches do in various ways, usually just speaking up without a flame to focus on), I decided to share. I was choosing between sharing the feelings I'm having around this project of focussing daily on happiness, or on the ongoing feelings of loving working at the Shattuck -- how my clinicals (as you may have noticed) are the brightest part of my life and I adore these people that the rest of society ignores or fears. I opted for the latter, and it was cool. Mind you, the other option would also have been cool, and surreal, since it was very similar to what the entire sermon was about!
And then in the aftertime, one of the members hurried over because he is also a psych nurse. I've noticed in my church tours how among the things I'm acknowedging is the feel of the service, and then the people-contact. Many places I can come and go without speaking to a single person. Others are more outreachy, and I end of talking to people... largely about my being there, about visiting churches, or what that church does. This was one of the first times I talked to people and it was just talking -- to this guy about nursing, and then to the minister about her sermon and about our impressions of society and current attitudes towards stress, happiness, and community. It was very cool.
And then when I got home, Jazz wanted to go Christmas shopping, despite the rain. So we settled on the perfect solution -- I'd just ride along, and then stay in the car. So he practiced driving, I stayed dry, and even had time to download Scrabble onto my phone and play it. And we decided to stop at a new restaurant for sushi. We have three new Japanese restaurants in Mansfield, just in the last year. What's up with that? Makes me happy, though.
And then, that evening, we all played the new game from my students, and it was fun. And when we finished and it wasn't too terribly late, Wolf suggested that we play a few hands of Mah Jongg as a fun brief thing. It was great, both playing and the fact that she suggested it!
Monday, December 13
Went to Barbara's funeral today. I was not very close to her, but it was still a lovely and poignant Mass and reception afterward. Watching all her grandkids playing together, with that clear cousins-playing-together dynamic (the mix of ages, the tone of being close enough to play, but seeing each other rarely enough to enjoy the chance to play) was really wonderful. And Elaine, one of our faculty who retired and move to VA came up for the service, and it was great to see her.
And then we returned, with me hours late to do a review for the students for Friday's exam, and no one was selfishly inappropriate or pissy, and that made me happy (esp. since we spend so much time and energy dealing with the toxic students that we start assuming they're going to be nasty -- lovely to have one's pessimism flatly disproved!).
Hurm. Fridays are always the hardest days to find happy spots. I get knitting done in meetings, but it is an organized soaking in the shared negativity process.... But while Betsy did foolishly say she'd do the extra lectures (1/3 of our teaching load is done by an adjunct, as yet non-existent) this spring if there was no one else (I've been telling her to stop saying that, as it makes it unlikely they'll look too hard for anyone), I then managed to maneuver the discussion into having last year's adjunct (who is this year's new full-timer for the first year class) do it since she already has the lectures prepped from last time. All set. We'll just ignore the fact that Kay has since changed her mind -- this made me happy on Friday, and for several days afterwards.
Also happy that the college's Christmas party involved lots of Chinese food and cake. I then left at a decent hour, and then I got all my work done for the other school's clinical evals Saturday, so the evening didn't include my usual procrastinatory scramble.
Saturday, December 11
Clinical evals went well, in the face of angst that they wouldn't, since I had to confront my favorite student on some of her problematic behaviors. I was even more anxious, since they gave me a thank-you present which had clearly been selected by this student -- the game Small World (there's a reason she's my favorite -- the most SWILish student I've had in ages) -- and I thought she'd be upset and regretting her spot-on generosity. But it all went well, with a good, long discussion of all sorts of stuff. And I got a really fantastic gift!
And it was a happy clinical day in general, saying goodbye to all the folks there, knowing I'll be back in January (this is my favorite unit, and I recently found out that I get to be on it this spring! Huzzah!), and having them all happy to say they'll see me then.
In the evening, West Wing made me happy. As an added layer, having children who love West Wing (and Aaron Sorkin in general) makes me happy and proud.
Sunday, December 12
A truly excellent day!
First, went to the Foxboro Unitarian Universalists for church. I'd been there once before, the first service of the fall, and it was very "catching up on organizational details" ish. The people were friendly, but preoccupied with reconnecting with each other in the after-service time. This week was a regular service. Started with me being early, and so getting to meet the 3-wk-old baby being introduced today, which was very cool (held her hand during diaper change, and she stopped crying!). And then when they had the time to share joys/sorrows with the lighting of a candle (as most churches do in various ways, usually just speaking up without a flame to focus on), I decided to share. I was choosing between sharing the feelings I'm having around this project of focussing daily on happiness, or on the ongoing feelings of loving working at the Shattuck -- how my clinicals (as you may have noticed) are the brightest part of my life and I adore these people that the rest of society ignores or fears. I opted for the latter, and it was cool. Mind you, the other option would also have been cool, and surreal, since it was very similar to what the entire sermon was about!
And then in the aftertime, one of the members hurried over because he is also a psych nurse. I've noticed in my church tours how among the things I'm acknowedging is the feel of the service, and then the people-contact. Many places I can come and go without speaking to a single person. Others are more outreachy, and I end of talking to people... largely about my being there, about visiting churches, or what that church does. This was one of the first times I talked to people and it was just talking -- to this guy about nursing, and then to the minister about her sermon and about our impressions of society and current attitudes towards stress, happiness, and community. It was very cool.
And then when I got home, Jazz wanted to go Christmas shopping, despite the rain. So we settled on the perfect solution -- I'd just ride along, and then stay in the car. So he practiced driving, I stayed dry, and even had time to download Scrabble onto my phone and play it. And we decided to stop at a new restaurant for sushi. We have three new Japanese restaurants in Mansfield, just in the last year. What's up with that? Makes me happy, though.
And then, that evening, we all played the new game from my students, and it was fun. And when we finished and it wasn't too terribly late, Wolf suggested that we play a few hands of Mah Jongg as a fun brief thing. It was great, both playing and the fact that she suggested it!
Monday, December 13
Went to Barbara's funeral today. I was not very close to her, but it was still a lovely and poignant Mass and reception afterward. Watching all her grandkids playing together, with that clear cousins-playing-together dynamic (the mix of ages, the tone of being close enough to play, but seeing each other rarely enough to enjoy the chance to play) was really wonderful. And Elaine, one of our faculty who retired and move to VA came up for the service, and it was great to see her.
And then we returned, with me hours late to do a review for the students for Friday's exam, and no one was selfishly inappropriate or pissy, and that made me happy (esp. since we spend so much time and energy dealing with the toxic students that we start assuming they're going to be nasty -- lovely to have one's pessimism flatly disproved!).