Onto the next, onto the next.
On Monday (it is technically Wednesday now I guess, eek!) my professor at school finally came for a site visit at my internship. She attended the group I have been leading since late October and had a meeting with my professor and I. I am so relieved to have it out of the way!
During group time the kids were rowdier and normal and I guess that is to be expected considering there was a
"new" person in the group (and a pretty new client as well). My newest client was having a really hard time. She apparently has Aspberger's but at times it seems like Autism. She was making a lot of odd physical gestures and at one point stuck her hands into her pants as if she were playing with herself. It was awkward for me because that really needs to be corrected, but I didn't want to call the rest of the kids' attention to it because somehow they seemed not to notice. Also during the group, my "biter" client accused me of not being trustworthy, pretty much purposely to embarrass me in front of my professor. On the inside I did feel embarrassed but just tried to be calm. If I am doing my job correctly as a therapist, it means that at times I make my clients uncomfortable, and as a result they don't like me. When this particular client doesn't get her way in therapy (she wanted to make me take her on an outing to the mall, I am refusing to take her on any more outings until we process the last one and she completes the last therapy assignment I gave her) she likes to get "revenge" on me by trying to hurt my feelings or make me uncomfortable. Oy!
I got a lot of nice compliments during the meeting with my supervisor and my professor. My professor asked my supervisor about the possibility of other students interning there in the future, and my supervisor basically said no because "the internship is so difficult" and it takes a really smart, hard-working, independent person with basically a lot of balls to work there. So that was flattering to me! Then my supervisor added "but if I have my way, maybe Kristie will be helping me supervise an intern here a year from now!" So that was really exciting too because I am hoping I will get to work there after I graduate.
To celebrate, after work on Monday, I got Panda Express and went to see Shutter Island with my friend Chris. I love Panda but I am really nervous about eating any fast food. I quit eating fast food in November 2009 when I started trying to lose weight and I think it helped a lot. So, part of trying to maintain my weight loss includes not eating fast food. However, Chris and I kind of have a tradition of going to Panda that I want to continue. When we went this time I noticed a "healthy options" menu where all the items are 200 calories or less. I was pleased to see that my FAVORITE item at Panda, the Veggie spring rolls, were on this menu. Usually I get orange chicken, chow mein, and veggie spring rolls and eat most if not the whole thing. This time I got chow mein, veggie spring rolls, and mushroom chicken, another item from the healthy options menu. It wasn't as good as the orange chicken but I liked it okay and felt good about it being healthier. I tried to eat only 1/2-2/3 of the meal and gave the rest of my brother so hopefully it won't sabotage my weight loss.
Shutter Island was good, but as it is set in a mental institution it kind of had the effect of making me feel like I was still at work. Which wasn't necessarily what I wanted to feel like after my professor's site visit and meeting, group therapy, and three individual client appointments (one of which was really stressful). The movie was visually very cool but had some really gross/sad parts. I don't want to say too much more about it because I don't want to ruin it for those of you planning to go out and see it, but I will say it really reminded me of a story my mom told me about when she worked at a mental institution as a stenographer. The story was about this schizophrenic client who was really hard to handle because he had a lot of paranoid delusions. The institution ended up handling it by typing up a letter on CIA letterhead and sending it to the client, asking him to please behave himself and work in the laundry room "gathering intelligence" basically so that they could manage his behavior. Scary but funny at the same time.
On Sunday I did end up starting my newest knitting project. It is a shorter, thinner scarf with a built in loop so I can thread the scarf through itself (when I eventually post a picture that description will make more sense). I'm using a dark fuzzy black yarn with some gold metallic thread in it, so far it looks really pretty. I think it'll be a quick project before I'm onto the next one (a green scarf with a heart pattern for Chloe). Then I'll probably try to make a baby sweater. I also did some scrapbooking Tuesday night (graduation 2008- finally. It came out really cute!). I really wish that I had more time to craft than I do (although obviously I spend a fair amount of time crafting). I have a bizarre theory too that the more I craft the more organized I'll be because I have really overbought on the scrapbooking supplies, and the more I can use up and file away in my album, the cleaner things will be. Does that make sense to anybody else? :)
Another silly thing, but I was excited about it, is that I used up a thing of lotion and two little things of shower gel that I had. I'm also really close to finishing this stupid eyebrow growth serum I bought after overplucking (doesn't work, don't waste your money!). Like most girls, I over buy on cosmetics and toiletries. A lot of times I can't even help it because they're given to me as gifts, I get samples in the mail and in magazines, or when I buy certain things I get "bonuses" like the Clinique bonus, and end up with a lot of make-up and supplies I didn't buy. I have a bin under my bed chock full of that kind of stuff that I am trying to "use up." So, I was excited to make progress in that area even though it doesn't really matter. I want that stuff out of my room, but I don't want to just throw it away or waste it! Silly.
I was planning to write a little bit on my feelings about John (haven't heard from him since February 12th) and the loss of that relationship, but I kind of worked myself into a better mood writing about other things. It's crazy that I lost such a big thing in my life but am still so busy.
During group time the kids were rowdier and normal and I guess that is to be expected considering there was a
"new" person in the group (and a pretty new client as well). My newest client was having a really hard time. She apparently has Aspberger's but at times it seems like Autism. She was making a lot of odd physical gestures and at one point stuck her hands into her pants as if she were playing with herself. It was awkward for me because that really needs to be corrected, but I didn't want to call the rest of the kids' attention to it because somehow they seemed not to notice. Also during the group, my "biter" client accused me of not being trustworthy, pretty much purposely to embarrass me in front of my professor. On the inside I did feel embarrassed but just tried to be calm. If I am doing my job correctly as a therapist, it means that at times I make my clients uncomfortable, and as a result they don't like me. When this particular client doesn't get her way in therapy (she wanted to make me take her on an outing to the mall, I am refusing to take her on any more outings until we process the last one and she completes the last therapy assignment I gave her) she likes to get "revenge" on me by trying to hurt my feelings or make me uncomfortable. Oy!
I got a lot of nice compliments during the meeting with my supervisor and my professor. My professor asked my supervisor about the possibility of other students interning there in the future, and my supervisor basically said no because "the internship is so difficult" and it takes a really smart, hard-working, independent person with basically a lot of balls to work there. So that was flattering to me! Then my supervisor added "but if I have my way, maybe Kristie will be helping me supervise an intern here a year from now!" So that was really exciting too because I am hoping I will get to work there after I graduate.
To celebrate, after work on Monday, I got Panda Express and went to see Shutter Island with my friend Chris. I love Panda but I am really nervous about eating any fast food. I quit eating fast food in November 2009 when I started trying to lose weight and I think it helped a lot. So, part of trying to maintain my weight loss includes not eating fast food. However, Chris and I kind of have a tradition of going to Panda that I want to continue. When we went this time I noticed a "healthy options" menu where all the items are 200 calories or less. I was pleased to see that my FAVORITE item at Panda, the Veggie spring rolls, were on this menu. Usually I get orange chicken, chow mein, and veggie spring rolls and eat most if not the whole thing. This time I got chow mein, veggie spring rolls, and mushroom chicken, another item from the healthy options menu. It wasn't as good as the orange chicken but I liked it okay and felt good about it being healthier. I tried to eat only 1/2-2/3 of the meal and gave the rest of my brother so hopefully it won't sabotage my weight loss.
Shutter Island was good, but as it is set in a mental institution it kind of had the effect of making me feel like I was still at work. Which wasn't necessarily what I wanted to feel like after my professor's site visit and meeting, group therapy, and three individual client appointments (one of which was really stressful). The movie was visually very cool but had some really gross/sad parts. I don't want to say too much more about it because I don't want to ruin it for those of you planning to go out and see it, but I will say it really reminded me of a story my mom told me about when she worked at a mental institution as a stenographer. The story was about this schizophrenic client who was really hard to handle because he had a lot of paranoid delusions. The institution ended up handling it by typing up a letter on CIA letterhead and sending it to the client, asking him to please behave himself and work in the laundry room "gathering intelligence" basically so that they could manage his behavior. Scary but funny at the same time.
On Sunday I did end up starting my newest knitting project. It is a shorter, thinner scarf with a built in loop so I can thread the scarf through itself (when I eventually post a picture that description will make more sense). I'm using a dark fuzzy black yarn with some gold metallic thread in it, so far it looks really pretty. I think it'll be a quick project before I'm onto the next one (a green scarf with a heart pattern for Chloe). Then I'll probably try to make a baby sweater. I also did some scrapbooking Tuesday night (graduation 2008- finally. It came out really cute!). I really wish that I had more time to craft than I do (although obviously I spend a fair amount of time crafting). I have a bizarre theory too that the more I craft the more organized I'll be because I have really overbought on the scrapbooking supplies, and the more I can use up and file away in my album, the cleaner things will be. Does that make sense to anybody else? :)
Another silly thing, but I was excited about it, is that I used up a thing of lotion and two little things of shower gel that I had. I'm also really close to finishing this stupid eyebrow growth serum I bought after overplucking (doesn't work, don't waste your money!). Like most girls, I over buy on cosmetics and toiletries. A lot of times I can't even help it because they're given to me as gifts, I get samples in the mail and in magazines, or when I buy certain things I get "bonuses" like the Clinique bonus, and end up with a lot of make-up and supplies I didn't buy. I have a bin under my bed chock full of that kind of stuff that I am trying to "use up." So, I was excited to make progress in that area even though it doesn't really matter. I want that stuff out of my room, but I don't want to just throw it away or waste it! Silly.
I was planning to write a little bit on my feelings about John (haven't heard from him since February 12th) and the loss of that relationship, but I kind of worked myself into a better mood writing about other things. It's crazy that I lost such a big thing in my life but am still so busy.