Where to begin
I have not done a real post in a long time. So much has happened. Thus I'll rely on my handy list making abilities to inform you of what I have been up to.
Yesterday in my adolescent class we were supposed to have a drama student come in and pretend to be an adolescent while we did some therapy with this person in front of the class. A young gal came in who was not in our class. Our teacher comes up to her and says "Are you ready to be suicidal?" The poor girl had this horrified and shocked looked on her face. Our teacher soon realized that this lady had just come by to give us some info. about a career fair and was not the drama student. Maybe it was one of those things where you had to be there but our whole class found it very entertaining. BTW the drama student never showed so we did something else instead.
I got hit with a few surprises lately. I kinda forgot about having to add a person to my dissertation committee so I had a meeting with a lady whom I have already worked with before and it just clicked. (Total side note: That week I had meetings with all of the people on my dissertation committee so by the end of the week I was tired of hearing myself talk about the same topic over and over again. *l*) She agreed to be on my committee and somehow lassoed me into doing a presentation about it in one of our classes, of which the overall topic relates very well to my dissertation. I hate presenting in front of people but umm... this will give me more practice I hope.
In the same vein I got completely sideswiped by a big old presentation with lots of work behind it before I graduate being done this May. I thought it was in December but somehow I was wrong and it needs to be done like now. I have to tape a session with a client and then transcribe it with process notes (that alone takes me days to do). I have to actually get a client and the client's parent to agree to let me audiotape a few sessions with the client. I have to get together an assessment that I have done and modify it to fit their requirements. I have to do some other fun case conceptualization stuff for 10 pages. All of that fun stuff is due the third week of April and so far I have none of it done. :( Then two weeks later I have to an oral defense in front of two faculty members (one I have never even met and the other well I just do not like this person's teaching style) about all of the above stuff then respond to some fun vignettes about adults so that they know I have do therapy and assessment with adults too. Stressful. Ugh!
I am proposing my dissertation in front of my committee two weeks after I do the oral defense and vignette stuff. This is ya know more of the presenting stuff that I hate. At least I like all of these people and they will help me out or support me if I get stuck or have any difficulties. I have some but not all of the stuff that I need for my dissertation proposal done as of this moment.
So that's some of the stressing stuff, most of which I all learned about or was dealing within a few days of each other. Oh, more stressing stuff is that I went on 3 interviews lately. I hate interviews so I tried to calm myself down before each one (one of them was group interview and another involved a meet and greet session; what happened to the old fashioned one on one interviews?) and then reward myself for making it through the interview without freaking out. *l* I joke but it is the truth. We can only go on a max of three interviews for practicum (training) at my school, so I really hope that at least one of them likes me enough to want to train me next year. One of them already told me no, but the others I will hear back from on the 14th. I am pretty interested in the other two but at one of them I felt like I actually had the experience they were looking for, so I am more likely going to end up there.
Both of the remaining practicum sites are fairly near my boyfriend's place, so we are talking about getting me a key and all that. We have been together for what nearing on 2 years now but the whole key thing makes me so happy and giddy, but for him he acts like it is no big deal and just a reasonable way of letting me in and out of his place when I am there. Clearly I am the girl in the relationship. :)
I have not seen a single one of my clients this week. I go to my practicum and just end up waiting around for them. Sad, ain't it? I swear that spring break is just so not my friend. I have no problem if they call to say they are not coming but I dislike waiting when no one shows or calls to cancel.
My spring break was kinda hectic. It was one of those where you need a vacation from your vacation. I got my car humming all happy for me on the first day after it went to the car shop. I spent two days with my mom trying to relax and hang out but not quite achieving it due to dealing with other projects. I even did some billable stuff related to my clients over the phone two of the days. I had to leave after a short time and drive back to LA for an interview the next day. Then I sat in fun holiday traffic to make it the airport in time to spend Easter with my family and then ya know fly back out again with another interview the next day (Monday).
Easter was enjoyable, which totally surprised me. Last year my sisters and I all hated the food at the brunch my stepmother just has to go every year (aka 3 years they have been married but she makes it sound like they've been together for decades. *l*). This year they changed up the food and my sisters and I liked it much more, but my stepmother and Dad did not like it so apparently we are not going there next year. My sister and I find it funny that the one time we like is when they decide they don't like it. Then we went with some of my stepmother's family to have an Easter egg hunt at my Dad and stepmother's home. It was SOOO much fun. I had not done an Easter egg hunt in a long time but this was a great one. The kids had bright colored ones to find but the adults had eggs that blended in with the backyard colors and had a texture to them so they were harder to find. I got $8.50, some candy (one of which had melted in the sun. I thought that was funny b/c mine was the only one that did that), and a certificate for a pound of See's candy. Not a bad haul. :) Oh my mom got us candy and pastel colored PJs for Easter with a cute card. :) So sweet of her, especially since she had to work that day.
Off to class. Maybe I will write more later. Just trying to keep you all informed about my life. :)
Yesterday in my adolescent class we were supposed to have a drama student come in and pretend to be an adolescent while we did some therapy with this person in front of the class. A young gal came in who was not in our class. Our teacher comes up to her and says "Are you ready to be suicidal?" The poor girl had this horrified and shocked looked on her face. Our teacher soon realized that this lady had just come by to give us some info. about a career fair and was not the drama student. Maybe it was one of those things where you had to be there but our whole class found it very entertaining. BTW the drama student never showed so we did something else instead.
I got hit with a few surprises lately. I kinda forgot about having to add a person to my dissertation committee so I had a meeting with a lady whom I have already worked with before and it just clicked. (Total side note: That week I had meetings with all of the people on my dissertation committee so by the end of the week I was tired of hearing myself talk about the same topic over and over again. *l*) She agreed to be on my committee and somehow lassoed me into doing a presentation about it in one of our classes, of which the overall topic relates very well to my dissertation. I hate presenting in front of people but umm... this will give me more practice I hope.
In the same vein I got completely sideswiped by a big old presentation with lots of work behind it before I graduate being done this May. I thought it was in December but somehow I was wrong and it needs to be done like now. I have to tape a session with a client and then transcribe it with process notes (that alone takes me days to do). I have to actually get a client and the client's parent to agree to let me audiotape a few sessions with the client. I have to get together an assessment that I have done and modify it to fit their requirements. I have to do some other fun case conceptualization stuff for 10 pages. All of that fun stuff is due the third week of April and so far I have none of it done. :( Then two weeks later I have to an oral defense in front of two faculty members (one I have never even met and the other well I just do not like this person's teaching style) about all of the above stuff then respond to some fun vignettes about adults so that they know I have do therapy and assessment with adults too. Stressful. Ugh!
I am proposing my dissertation in front of my committee two weeks after I do the oral defense and vignette stuff. This is ya know more of the presenting stuff that I hate. At least I like all of these people and they will help me out or support me if I get stuck or have any difficulties. I have some but not all of the stuff that I need for my dissertation proposal done as of this moment.
So that's some of the stressing stuff, most of which I all learned about or was dealing within a few days of each other. Oh, more stressing stuff is that I went on 3 interviews lately. I hate interviews so I tried to calm myself down before each one (one of them was group interview and another involved a meet and greet session; what happened to the old fashioned one on one interviews?) and then reward myself for making it through the interview without freaking out. *l* I joke but it is the truth. We can only go on a max of three interviews for practicum (training) at my school, so I really hope that at least one of them likes me enough to want to train me next year. One of them already told me no, but the others I will hear back from on the 14th. I am pretty interested in the other two but at one of them I felt like I actually had the experience they were looking for, so I am more likely going to end up there.
Both of the remaining practicum sites are fairly near my boyfriend's place, so we are talking about getting me a key and all that. We have been together for what nearing on 2 years now but the whole key thing makes me so happy and giddy, but for him he acts like it is no big deal and just a reasonable way of letting me in and out of his place when I am there. Clearly I am the girl in the relationship. :)
I have not seen a single one of my clients this week. I go to my practicum and just end up waiting around for them. Sad, ain't it? I swear that spring break is just so not my friend. I have no problem if they call to say they are not coming but I dislike waiting when no one shows or calls to cancel.
My spring break was kinda hectic. It was one of those where you need a vacation from your vacation. I got my car humming all happy for me on the first day after it went to the car shop. I spent two days with my mom trying to relax and hang out but not quite achieving it due to dealing with other projects. I even did some billable stuff related to my clients over the phone two of the days. I had to leave after a short time and drive back to LA for an interview the next day. Then I sat in fun holiday traffic to make it the airport in time to spend Easter with my family and then ya know fly back out again with another interview the next day (Monday).
Easter was enjoyable, which totally surprised me. Last year my sisters and I all hated the food at the brunch my stepmother just has to go every year (aka 3 years they have been married but she makes it sound like they've been together for decades. *l*). This year they changed up the food and my sisters and I liked it much more, but my stepmother and Dad did not like it so apparently we are not going there next year. My sister and I find it funny that the one time we like is when they decide they don't like it. Then we went with some of my stepmother's family to have an Easter egg hunt at my Dad and stepmother's home. It was SOOO much fun. I had not done an Easter egg hunt in a long time but this was a great one. The kids had bright colored ones to find but the adults had eggs that blended in with the backyard colors and had a texture to them so they were harder to find. I got $8.50, some candy (one of which had melted in the sun. I thought that was funny b/c mine was the only one that did that), and a certificate for a pound of See's candy. Not a bad haul. :) Oh my mom got us candy and pastel colored PJs for Easter with a cute card. :) So sweet of her, especially since she had to work that day.
Off to class. Maybe I will write more later. Just trying to keep you all informed about my life. :)