Event of the Summer
Thursday June 31...
Today was Intern Fun Day. Boy was that an experience! We got to go in a lake appearing to simply be muddy but really it was tons of duck shit. YUCK! It reeked! But we had a blast neways. Of course I had to put on tons of sunscreen and still proceeded to get burned some! But, I got a pic with Laura with Bruce Willis. Well, not the real Bruce Willis but he definitely looks just like him! We had a blast playing all the games and doing cute activities. These girls are just too funny! Chelsea's goal is to treat staff equal and not go behind staff's back and she just can't seem to grasp that concept. She favors Mr. Damron so much and often won't listen to anyone but him. But when she doesn't get the answer she wants from him (or any other staff) she'll go behind that person's back and go ask another person only reword it just a tid bit. It's like she thinks we won't find out for heaven's sake! Today was Brit's last day with us. I'm gonna miss her even though she was crazy nuts! I hope she gets to go see Mexico one day since she was constantly talking about how everyone should go (she's never been it's just a joke). She always had a smile on her face and she was such an encouragement to me when the girls were being horrible. I talked to her a long time that evening. She's really nervous about going back home and wants to be able to be put in Day Treatment but doesn't know how she can get in touch with her case worker without her mom finding out and then saying she wasn't ready to come home. I wish that Ms. Brown would give these girls more opportunity. I mean, after talking with Brit, day treatment is completely logical esp. with all the pressures it sounds like she has at home! We aren't giving our girls the chance to succeed if we don't involve them more! She's going to keep in touch with me and I hope she uses that on her bad days.
Friday...we had a new girl arrive today. LaKiesha. She is really quiet and always smiling. The girls even commented on how she was smiling all the time and what did she have to be happy about. That will change before I get back Monday. Happiness wears off quickly when they realize that they're now in supervised treatment 24/7 for 6 months or so. Today, Angel was a pill. She wanted to play a spelling game so we did. I gave her and Miss Laura and a few other girls words out of the dictionary. Well, she got her word wrong but so did everyone else so she insisted it was her turn again. Now that's not how we'd played the entire game so I was a bit peeved when she continued to argue. Laura backed me up and we were both like, it's the other girl's turn. If you want to play you'll have to wait. Well of course, she made a huge deal out of it and was like I won't play. That was fine with me! Don't go trying to ruin a game for heaven's sake! But, she pouted the rest of the afternoon and we became interns who weren't staff and didn't need to be addressed. Then, when another TC asked for the clipboard I went to hand it to her and Angel came over and ripped it out of my hand! It started bleeding she ripped it out so hard. I just got up and went to the bathroom to wash it off. When I came back in she laughed about it. I told her I wouldn't do it again if I were her. She said she'd do it if she wanted and she definitely would. I told her I'd advise against it with a dead stare. She just walked off. Some day, someone's going to bring her down to size and it's going to be a huge wake up call for her. It really is sad that she hasn't had any parents to raise her that cared to teach her right or wrong. (for that matter, any parents at all).
Monday was an easy day, we cooked out. I got off early to go watch fireworks but then we had a huge storm the minute I got back. It had blown a lot on the way home and when I got there it was pouring. You couldn't even see your hand in front of your face. So needless to say all festivities were cancelled and we all had to stay in. We actually were being warned that if we got a knock on the door at night we needed to evacuate because the power would be gone and we'd need to go to a central location.
Tuesday, all of us TCs were in a bad mood and we took the girls points all day long. Of course, they were acting horrible so they actually deserved it. We found out one of our girls, the oldest, Angelica, is dating a boy from another cottage. He's well known around campus as he has some of the highest counts for sexual molestation/rape/whatever. She swears he's changed. Come on girls! 1) It's against the rules to date on campus 2) They're in treatment for sexual behavior 3) Do people really change that drastically especially in under a year?! Typically NO!!! This day happened to be the one that holds the event of my summer...Chelsea was talking with Amanda about Miss Laura taking her points and calling her names and all. The girls are allowed to talk about staff but she was being really loud in the gym so I asked her to talk a little softer. She blew up at me about how all we did was take points and how she didn't deserve it. I was being very calm telling her that she knew better than to backtalk staff (that's why she'd got points taken) and that if she wanted to talk about that, she'd have to take it up with Laura because that's our policy about points. Well she kept yelling at me and calling me names and saying how us summer staff weren't fair and didn't know the rules. When she started cussing at me I really started to get upset considering I'd been talking to her calmly the entire time. I've never been so mad in my entire life! I was shaking from head to toe I was so angry! Well Chelsea called me out on it and said I was scared of her. I told her I wasn't scared of her. She said I was cuz I was shaking all over. Well I slipped and said "I wasn't scared I was pissed at her." I shouldn't have said it especially since later she blew it out of proportion saying I'd cussed her out. I was describing how I felt! Yes it was inappropriate but I didn't call her a cuss word like she made it sound which of course then all the other girls wanted to know what I'd called her. I just told them it was inappropriate, I shouldn't have said it and wasn't going to repeat it. So after I said that she said if I was so mad I should go ahead and fight her. I told her I wasn't going to fight her. She said I was scared of her. I told her I wasn't scared and she could go right ahead and hit me. That shut her up considering she was standing on a bench towering over me a few feet from my face and is about 3 of me around. Well it was still a huge deal at dinner and the girls knew she wanted to hit me. Angel of all people asked if I wanted her to hit Chelsea for me. I said that was ok (though it would have been amusing). Needless to say, I gained some respect from the girls standing my ground that evening.
Wednesday Angelica got in a hold because she got mad when we wouldn't let her go down to nursing because the guy she's trying to date was there. HELLO!?!?! Doesn't no male contact except during competitions mean anything?!? There was staff in her room trying to de-escalate her but unfortunately one of the staff came in and made it worse when Angelica was throwing her stuff out the window and that staff told her to go ahead and run she had nowhere to go. At that point, Angelica grabbed her razor and ran to the bathroom across from her room to cut her throat. Ms. Torre and Ms. Lurrey ran across to push open the door to get to her. Ms. Torre got cut by the razor blade once she shoved in the door. She has slices all over her arms from it. Angelica wasn't trying to cut her but when Ms. Torre entered, that's what happened because of the struggle to get it away. On another note, JJ things something is out to get her. She is convinced that a woman at her old center (Padia's Place) is out to get her and she is the devil and can make people be quiet just by entering a room. She told us to watch out because she was coming over there and she could make people do whatever she wanted. JJ went back to her room after all this and proceeded to create one of the funnier events of the summer. She got down on her knees and started praying to God that he would save her from this woman. Over and over she prayed for this. And then she started singing Amazing Grace. Only she didn't know the words so she was making them up as she went along. It's sad because she really thinks all this is true but pathetic cuz if she'd take her medicine like she's suppossed to she wouldn't see these things. But at the same time, it's totally hysterical because you know she could get rid of the visions by taking her medicine and the things she's seeing are so off the wall. Yes, they are true and I know many of you think I'm sick for laughing but when you work with this population every day, you have to laugh or you'd find yourself going insane and crying all the time.
Thursday, Amanda wanted to process with me about Mr. Damron. She wrote him a letter about how she loved him and was upset she got in trouble for it. We talked about how it was inappropriate for residents and staff to have relationships of any kind with each other. It satisfied her some to know that staff can't have relationships with staff either since suspicions are up about Mr. Damron and Ms. Laura. She has such low self-esteem and she is turning to any guy who will give her attention. Unfortunately for Mr. Damron, he's the only one in the cottage that's male. She was telling me how she didn't want to eat cuz she wanted to die since she didn't have anything going for her. We talked about how I'd felt the same feelings about being rejected by a guy before and so forth. It seemed to help her some and she understood the boundaries a bit more. I felt like I'd actually helped one of our girls!
Friday, we watched A Cinderella Story. The girls were laughing at how much I loved Chad Michael Murray. It's now the running joke about how good looking I think he is. One of the girls even ended up giving me her Chad Michael Murray poster that had been hanging on her door once she left the program. It now hangs on my door in the apartment :)
Saturday some of the girls and I went to Graceland. That was fun because it was the first outing I'd been able to make with them. Elvis definitely had some weird decorating tastes with carpet all over the walls. But seeing the pastures at the back of his house was gorgeous! I could've stayed there watching the horses forever. I'm not a horse fan but I love nature (hard to believe I know) and it was just so gorgeous that day! That evening, we went to Corky's down by Beale Street for dinner. It was delicious yet again! We ate outside along the sidewalk and watched all the traffic going by. It was starting to get busy on Beale when we left as we headed for Hard Rock to pick up Aaron's shirt. It was fun just chillin and havin a day of fun.
Sunday I got up and went to church with Natasha and Nicole. The service was great especially the music. It was so nice to be at church again! After church, we went to IHOP with some of the other girls and just sat chattin about our weeks. God what would we do if we couldn't vent to each other?! The rest of the day I spent sleeping til really late. Totally relaxing weekend!
Today was Intern Fun Day. Boy was that an experience! We got to go in a lake appearing to simply be muddy but really it was tons of duck shit. YUCK! It reeked! But we had a blast neways. Of course I had to put on tons of sunscreen and still proceeded to get burned some! But, I got a pic with Laura with Bruce Willis. Well, not the real Bruce Willis but he definitely looks just like him! We had a blast playing all the games and doing cute activities. These girls are just too funny! Chelsea's goal is to treat staff equal and not go behind staff's back and she just can't seem to grasp that concept. She favors Mr. Damron so much and often won't listen to anyone but him. But when she doesn't get the answer she wants from him (or any other staff) she'll go behind that person's back and go ask another person only reword it just a tid bit. It's like she thinks we won't find out for heaven's sake! Today was Brit's last day with us. I'm gonna miss her even though she was crazy nuts! I hope she gets to go see Mexico one day since she was constantly talking about how everyone should go (she's never been it's just a joke). She always had a smile on her face and she was such an encouragement to me when the girls were being horrible. I talked to her a long time that evening. She's really nervous about going back home and wants to be able to be put in Day Treatment but doesn't know how she can get in touch with her case worker without her mom finding out and then saying she wasn't ready to come home. I wish that Ms. Brown would give these girls more opportunity. I mean, after talking with Brit, day treatment is completely logical esp. with all the pressures it sounds like she has at home! We aren't giving our girls the chance to succeed if we don't involve them more! She's going to keep in touch with me and I hope she uses that on her bad days.
Friday...we had a new girl arrive today. LaKiesha. She is really quiet and always smiling. The girls even commented on how she was smiling all the time and what did she have to be happy about. That will change before I get back Monday. Happiness wears off quickly when they realize that they're now in supervised treatment 24/7 for 6 months or so. Today, Angel was a pill. She wanted to play a spelling game so we did. I gave her and Miss Laura and a few other girls words out of the dictionary. Well, she got her word wrong but so did everyone else so she insisted it was her turn again. Now that's not how we'd played the entire game so I was a bit peeved when she continued to argue. Laura backed me up and we were both like, it's the other girl's turn. If you want to play you'll have to wait. Well of course, she made a huge deal out of it and was like I won't play. That was fine with me! Don't go trying to ruin a game for heaven's sake! But, she pouted the rest of the afternoon and we became interns who weren't staff and didn't need to be addressed. Then, when another TC asked for the clipboard I went to hand it to her and Angel came over and ripped it out of my hand! It started bleeding she ripped it out so hard. I just got up and went to the bathroom to wash it off. When I came back in she laughed about it. I told her I wouldn't do it again if I were her. She said she'd do it if she wanted and she definitely would. I told her I'd advise against it with a dead stare. She just walked off. Some day, someone's going to bring her down to size and it's going to be a huge wake up call for her. It really is sad that she hasn't had any parents to raise her that cared to teach her right or wrong. (for that matter, any parents at all).
Monday was an easy day, we cooked out. I got off early to go watch fireworks but then we had a huge storm the minute I got back. It had blown a lot on the way home and when I got there it was pouring. You couldn't even see your hand in front of your face. So needless to say all festivities were cancelled and we all had to stay in. We actually were being warned that if we got a knock on the door at night we needed to evacuate because the power would be gone and we'd need to go to a central location.
Tuesday, all of us TCs were in a bad mood and we took the girls points all day long. Of course, they were acting horrible so they actually deserved it. We found out one of our girls, the oldest, Angelica, is dating a boy from another cottage. He's well known around campus as he has some of the highest counts for sexual molestation/rape/whatever. She swears he's changed. Come on girls! 1) It's against the rules to date on campus 2) They're in treatment for sexual behavior 3) Do people really change that drastically especially in under a year?! Typically NO!!! This day happened to be the one that holds the event of my summer...Chelsea was talking with Amanda about Miss Laura taking her points and calling her names and all. The girls are allowed to talk about staff but she was being really loud in the gym so I asked her to talk a little softer. She blew up at me about how all we did was take points and how she didn't deserve it. I was being very calm telling her that she knew better than to backtalk staff (that's why she'd got points taken) and that if she wanted to talk about that, she'd have to take it up with Laura because that's our policy about points. Well she kept yelling at me and calling me names and saying how us summer staff weren't fair and didn't know the rules. When she started cussing at me I really started to get upset considering I'd been talking to her calmly the entire time. I've never been so mad in my entire life! I was shaking from head to toe I was so angry! Well Chelsea called me out on it and said I was scared of her. I told her I wasn't scared of her. She said I was cuz I was shaking all over. Well I slipped and said "I wasn't scared I was pissed at her." I shouldn't have said it especially since later she blew it out of proportion saying I'd cussed her out. I was describing how I felt! Yes it was inappropriate but I didn't call her a cuss word like she made it sound which of course then all the other girls wanted to know what I'd called her. I just told them it was inappropriate, I shouldn't have said it and wasn't going to repeat it. So after I said that she said if I was so mad I should go ahead and fight her. I told her I wasn't going to fight her. She said I was scared of her. I told her I wasn't scared and she could go right ahead and hit me. That shut her up considering she was standing on a bench towering over me a few feet from my face and is about 3 of me around. Well it was still a huge deal at dinner and the girls knew she wanted to hit me. Angel of all people asked if I wanted her to hit Chelsea for me. I said that was ok (though it would have been amusing). Needless to say, I gained some respect from the girls standing my ground that evening.
Wednesday Angelica got in a hold because she got mad when we wouldn't let her go down to nursing because the guy she's trying to date was there. HELLO!?!?! Doesn't no male contact except during competitions mean anything?!? There was staff in her room trying to de-escalate her but unfortunately one of the staff came in and made it worse when Angelica was throwing her stuff out the window and that staff told her to go ahead and run she had nowhere to go. At that point, Angelica grabbed her razor and ran to the bathroom across from her room to cut her throat. Ms. Torre and Ms. Lurrey ran across to push open the door to get to her. Ms. Torre got cut by the razor blade once she shoved in the door. She has slices all over her arms from it. Angelica wasn't trying to cut her but when Ms. Torre entered, that's what happened because of the struggle to get it away. On another note, JJ things something is out to get her. She is convinced that a woman at her old center (Padia's Place) is out to get her and she is the devil and can make people be quiet just by entering a room. She told us to watch out because she was coming over there and she could make people do whatever she wanted. JJ went back to her room after all this and proceeded to create one of the funnier events of the summer. She got down on her knees and started praying to God that he would save her from this woman. Over and over she prayed for this. And then she started singing Amazing Grace. Only she didn't know the words so she was making them up as she went along. It's sad because she really thinks all this is true but pathetic cuz if she'd take her medicine like she's suppossed to she wouldn't see these things. But at the same time, it's totally hysterical because you know she could get rid of the visions by taking her medicine and the things she's seeing are so off the wall. Yes, they are true and I know many of you think I'm sick for laughing but when you work with this population every day, you have to laugh or you'd find yourself going insane and crying all the time.
Thursday, Amanda wanted to process with me about Mr. Damron. She wrote him a letter about how she loved him and was upset she got in trouble for it. We talked about how it was inappropriate for residents and staff to have relationships of any kind with each other. It satisfied her some to know that staff can't have relationships with staff either since suspicions are up about Mr. Damron and Ms. Laura. She has such low self-esteem and she is turning to any guy who will give her attention. Unfortunately for Mr. Damron, he's the only one in the cottage that's male. She was telling me how she didn't want to eat cuz she wanted to die since she didn't have anything going for her. We talked about how I'd felt the same feelings about being rejected by a guy before and so forth. It seemed to help her some and she understood the boundaries a bit more. I felt like I'd actually helped one of our girls!
Friday, we watched A Cinderella Story. The girls were laughing at how much I loved Chad Michael Murray. It's now the running joke about how good looking I think he is. One of the girls even ended up giving me her Chad Michael Murray poster that had been hanging on her door once she left the program. It now hangs on my door in the apartment :)
Saturday some of the girls and I went to Graceland. That was fun because it was the first outing I'd been able to make with them. Elvis definitely had some weird decorating tastes with carpet all over the walls. But seeing the pastures at the back of his house was gorgeous! I could've stayed there watching the horses forever. I'm not a horse fan but I love nature (hard to believe I know) and it was just so gorgeous that day! That evening, we went to Corky's down by Beale Street for dinner. It was delicious yet again! We ate outside along the sidewalk and watched all the traffic going by. It was starting to get busy on Beale when we left as we headed for Hard Rock to pick up Aaron's shirt. It was fun just chillin and havin a day of fun.
Sunday I got up and went to church with Natasha and Nicole. The service was great especially the music. It was so nice to be at church again! After church, we went to IHOP with some of the other girls and just sat chattin about our weeks. God what would we do if we couldn't vent to each other?! The rest of the day I spent sleeping til really late. Totally relaxing weekend!