i kicked his eyeball out!

So, the kid that I transport today for work talked for the entire hour road trip. His dad had given him a stuffed bear that we put on the floor of the car in front of him for the drive. The whole drive he kept saying, "I kicked his eyeball out!" and laughed hysterically. I would say "no, you didnt, you are such a trickster." he would laugh some more and say "I am so sneaky" and then he would follow that up with "I kicked his eyeball out". this went on for quite some time. It was pretty funny. He is such a great kid and his parents suck ass, which is really sad. he seems pretty resilient though, i think he will be great once they find him an adoptive home.

anywho, Monday was all good. worked for a bit, then went to change the oil on my car. Of course, any time you take your car to the shop, they always come up with ten thousand things wrong with your car that will cost you an arm and leg. So, the mechanic tells me that my CV axles are busted and there is some fluid leak and the fluid leak will cost $115 to fix and the axles will be $315 per side for a grand total of "a lot of damn money I dont have right now." So, the guy asks me in a very condescending voice if i would like to look at the CV axles, i say of course. So, he takes me out to my car and asks me in another very condescending tone as if I am a 10 year old girl, "Have you ever seen under your car?" At this point, I am thinking that he is very dumb and has no tact whatsoever. So, he shows me the axles and I say hold on, let me make some calls. So, I call my dad, chris, and nick and they all say the same thing about how i can totally still roll in my car without replacing the axles right now. So, I go back in there and tell the guy to just change my oil. It felt good. He looked quite disappointed that he couldnt screw me over. anyway, after that ordeal, I jetted down to arlington to hang with Michael. We saw the Rundown with Gabe (Michael's roommate/cousin) and his girlfriend. It was actually a pretty funny movie. There were quite a few good scenes and there was also the infamous Chritopher Walken "wow". after that we went back to Michael's place and the four of us played some mad games of BS and Egyptian Rat Screw. they actually got pretty violent. It was much fun. well, i didnt make it home till about 3 in the am. woke up at 7 to head out to work this morning. need less to say, i was pretty tired, but i made it through work and headed to school. I didnt have a 2-5 class today, so i took a nap at Michael's in the afternoon to make up for some lost sleep last night.

My 6-9 class today (violence in families) was pretty interesting. i think there was a lot of useful information about how to interview a survivor of domestic violence in order to assess her level of risk if she goes back home. It was a good class.

Just a quick side note to pat myself on the back. I was able to use what little will power I have and made the decision to go straight home after class tonight. I wanted to hang with michael, but I really want to be at my best tommorrow (as in not super tired) when i work with this young girl at my internship. it took a lot to not go over there, but i did it. :) Look how responsible I can be when I set my mind to it. Just teasing. :)

Now, I am fretting over my day at my internship tommorrow. I am supposed to work with a client tommorrow that i think is pretty depressed and i cant seem to figure out where to start with her. I dont think i am asking the right questions. Every question I ask, i seem to get a really short answer and then i dont know where to go. i am hoping that something brilliant happens tomorrow and we have some kind of break through. Anyway, I hope it all goes well. well, enough rambling, i am off to catch some zzzzz's.

Happy Day!!

So, Friday, i was still feeling sick, so my plan was to head home after work and make myself rest. that didnt work quite as i planned. After work, i dropped by my parent's house and then natalie twisted my arm to get some dinner with her and mark and thomas. Just teasing, as you all know, it doesnt take much to twist my arm. Me and my limited will power. :) anyway, dinner was great, quality time with the Michnevitz clan is always welcomed. After that I was able to jet home and get some much needed rest.

Saturday started off quite productive, but then slowly dropped off in the afternoon when i took a nap on the couch, then the evening picked up again with a shopping trip with my sis. Good times were had. We got some quality conversation in. I felt like I really didnt know how she was doing lately, so it was nice to have some time to catch up. Saturday night, i had a quick dinner with Nick. it was nice to see him, even if for only a short time. Then, daniel came over and we just chatted it up for a while. I was able to hear so many great stories about his time in Japan. Nice times.

On to Sunday...I am not quite sure what to say, but i guess what I will say is that it was a "super" day. :) Michael and I spent the day together and it was great. We ate at Fadi's which was great. Michael actually really enjoyed the food, YEAH!!! Arabic food is so mmmmm delicious. We also saw Duplex, which i thought was pretty entertaing and funny. I think the rest of the day again is more for my private journal than my blog. :)

Have a great monday, everyone!!

worth a reminder link

May-Ling has an excellent post on her blog about an issue at UT dealing with this idea of terrorism. If you have a second, you should all go check out her post and see the awesome firing line she submitted. I have a link to her blog from mine. enjoy.

I am officially a deliquent blogger :)

I believe that I have been doing more private jounaling this week than blogging. :) Well, i'm back. What a week? It has been exhausting, yet wonderful. I am feeling very sick (a cold, i believe). I think that is what happens when you push yourself the way that I did this week. I spent as much time with Michael this week as our schedules would allow. Between classes, after classes, before classes...it was all great. he even cooked me some soup yesterday after class since i was feeling sick. I am not talking canned soup, i am talking cut up potatoes and veggies and chicken. It was delicious. He even sent some home with me to eat tonight. What a sweetie. :) I wont share much about Michael and I (that is for us), but i will say the one thing (among many) I really appreciate about him is his openness and honesty.

classes were pretty interesting this week. In one of my classes, we had a guest speaker on homosexuality. It was a very well laid out presentation, i enjoyed it. It reminded me of my presentation days at the rape crisis center. good time reminiscing. In another of my classes, we met at Women's Haven (the battered women's shelter in Fort Worth). It was a very interesting experience. It hurt a lot to see all those women and children there and it hurt even more to imagine what they have had to go through to finally get to a shelter. I try not to be angry at this world, especially in my chosen field, but sometimes it is so hard because you seem so much heartache. These women and children have done nothing wrong, yet they are forced to live in a shelter because that is the only safe place for them to be. What a crazy world. It was a tough night.

My internship this week has been quite the up and down mess. Wednesday was great. I really felt like I had a break through with one of my clients. I finally felt like I knew what questions to ask. Then, today, I did not feel so good about meeting with another client. I feel like we are at a stand still. She wants to keep seeing me, but i cant seem to figure out what she needs me to help her with. i believe she is depressed and i cant seem to help her. I have been trying to remember what it felt like to me when i was depressed in high school. I just cant seem to get back to that feeling. anyway, i am going to sit on it for the weekend and hopefully come up with something great for next week.

tonight, I am just taking it easy, watching some friends, will & grace, and ER season premiers. YEAH!! I think i am going to hit the sack early so I can be fully ready for work tommorrow and maybe i can beat this cold.

Got to love those weekends!!

Where do I start? Well, Saturday started off very chill, then ended up getting some lunch with jay and will and heading out to the dallas aboretum. We had a great time and took many great pictures. The flowers there are so beautiful adn there is such a calming effect on you when you are there. It was very nice. There were also several fountains where the three of us proceeded to act like children and spray each other with water. :) Will and I also rolled down a grassy knoll (sp?) while jay took some pics. Good times were had.

Then, jetted home and took a 3 hour nap, i think the sun drained me. The evening entailed going to the clay pit with deb, will, and jay. I am not a really big fan of indian food, but this place was really good. We stuffed ourselves silly and then headed to deb's to watch a movie. Will and I didnt make it very long because we were so tired, so we jetted home and hit the sack. I did get a nice drunk dial from Miriam (woman I do my internship with) at 1:30 in the am. She was pretty damn funny. She was at the Velvet Hookah with some friends and she was saying things like "I want my Nada" and "I love you Nada". It was so funny, yet also so sweet.

Sunday was great. Michael came up to my side of town and we picked up will and headed over to the japanese festival. There really wasnt much going on there, so we didnt stay very long. After that, we went over to jay's for a bit to bid him farewell since we wont see him till next year. Good luck Jay. A bit later we got some lunch and went to the balloon festival. We parked way far away, but it was a nice walk. When the balloons finally launched, they looked really awesome. It was a nice sight. They even had a balloon shaped like a big cow. :) Then, we went to see Underworld at the studio movie grill and partook in a pitcher of shiner between Michael and I. The movie was not so good, but the shiner and the funny conversation during the movie was great. :) We dropped will off at the lab and headed back to my place where Michael had his first hookah experience. I believe he enjoyed it. We hung out with leslie a bit, then Michael and I had a heart to heart, which was a perfect end to a perfect day. I believe that the rest of this story is for my eyes only. :) Overall, it was a fantastic weekend.

Fun times at Oktoberfest

Last night was such a great time. drinking german beer out of a kick ass souvenir beer stein and riding many scary carnival rides and playing many crazy carnival games. Good times. Daniel, a great friend of mine who recently came back from japan where he was teaching english for the last year, and I rode two crazy scary rides. We rode the Starship 3000. this ride was so great for two reasons. one, they played great 80's music like bon jovi and aerosmith while on the ride and two because it is all about the centifigual (sp?) force. You get in this ship and it start to spin superfast, but you dont really feel like you are spinning. It just feels like there is no gravity so you can shoot yoru feet and arms up in the air. it was such a great time. then, later in the evening, daniel and i rode the kamikaze. Scary stuff. It is kind of like the pirate ship at six flags except it goes all the way around and you just kind of hang upside down in the air forever. The only thing holding you up is this silly black bar. Scary. While on the ride, daniel kept screaming "carnie insurance". Funny!! I love rollercoasters and carnival rides, but the thing about carnivals that scares me is that they just set them up anywhere they want, so you have to wonder how safe they really are. Oh well, we made it through and it was a great night.

today, i am not quite sure what the plan is, but many things have been tossed around. Plano balloon festival or the greek festival. tommorrow, there is also the japanese festival going on. Wow, too much to do this weekend. Also, Michael and i are getting together tommorrow since that is the only day that our schedules really mix. I am looking forward to it. Anyway, i am off to do all kinds of great saturday things. :)

Waiting to head out for dinner followed by an evening of much needed drinking!

So, I just took May-Ling's pirate test and it seems that my name is Captain Mary Bonney. I always wanted to be captain of my own pirate ship. Arrr!!!

Bon Jovi rocks!

Just thought I would let everyone know because I am sure you are all very interested. :) Bon Jovi is releasing a new album of greatest hits in acoustic version. I am so excited. It is being released on November 4. Woo hoo!!

"Easy Money"

So, I just finished up one of the most dramatic supervised visits ever at work. The parents were all upset and angry and they were supposed to be visiting with the most precious 6 month old girl ever. I almost had to stop the visit because they were so hostile and tense. Anyway, after all that was over, i passed one of the other case aids. Really nice man and he said "easy money, right." I just kind of smiled and he gave me a knowing nod. He had seen the drama that occured and it was nice to have some support. sometimes it feels like this job would be so easy, all i do is drive cool kids around dfw, but when shit like this morning happens, it really remind you how tough this job can be. Anyway, enough bitching.

I am about to head out to pick up the 13 year old twins that I transport on fridays. I feel like my week is not complete until I hang out with these two kids. They are both really great kids.

Just saw a foster mom at work wearing a shirt that says, "Hang out with Jesus, he hung out for you." How crazy is that? :)

Well, last night, I checked out the Velvet Hookah in Addison with Miriam (the woman I do my internship with). We had a really good time. The intention was to take our mind off our internship, but we talked about it almost the whole time. It was good conversation and it helped me a lot. I guess I just wish I felt more confident in my skills as a therapist. I guess it will all come with time. Well, the Velvet Hookah in Addison is not as cool as the one in Deep Ellum, it is much more uppity. It is still way great and much closer to my house, which is nice. Anyway, after that, Miriam and I headed to my place and hung out with Leslie (my roommate) for a while. We talked a lot about social worky stuff and how we all decided to do what we currently do as far as work is concerned. good times.

Tonight, i believe we will be hitting oktoberfest and tommorrow I see some time at the plano ballon festival and there is also a greek festival I would like to go to. We will see what happens. Anyway, i feel like I am rambling now, so I am off to GP. Have a great weekend, everyone!

therapy is hard

I really dont have much to add to this post, I think the title sums it up well. My internship today was quite challenging. I am working with a new client and she had several presenting problems and I felt very overwhelmed while talking to her. I felt like I didnt know what to say. It was a shitty feeling. Anyway, I talked with my coworker and my supervisor and that helped a lot. They told me to cut myself some slack, this is the first time I am doing this, so I am going to take their advice and take it easy on myself. Anyway, my coworker, the woman that is doing her internship with me (miriam) and I are heading to the velvet hookah tonight to take our minds off therapy. :)

The ups and downs of highway driving

So, today started off as a regular Tuesday. A drive to Forney to drop off a foster child. This boy is so sweet, but he is four years old and everything he says starts with "why?" a conversation between the two of us at 9:30 in the am will go something like this. "Nada, why does that truck say Wal-Mart?" "Because it is going to Wal-Mart." "Why is that truck going to Wal-Mart?" "Because they bought some stuff and they need to get it there." "Why do they need to get it there?" "Because people will buy it." "Why...?" "Because..." Just play that over and over again for one hour. I love this boy, but man, he is hard to handle in the mornings. :)

anyway, after all that, i made my way to Arlington as usual. Now, I would like to warn you that the following story really did happen, you might not believe it, but it did. So, I am driving down 190 at about 70 mph and this guy pulls up next to me also going about 70 mph and motions for me to roll my window down. Me, being the idiot trustworthy person i am, rolls down my window. He proceeds to pull out a camera and ask if he can take my picture. I immediately roll up my window and speed off as he is lipping many innappropriate nasty things at me. some men can be pigs. Notice I say some and not all. :)

So, I am recovering from that and now I am driving down I-30 and see a motorcycle going about 75 mph and the driver has one foot on the seat of the bike and one foot up in the air and both hands on the handle bars. Crazy!!

So, I make it to school and have a nice unexpected lunch with Michael. Good times. I sit through one class and start to doze near the end of class. So, for dinner, I had two cups of coffee and a small salad along with some good conversation with Nicole and Michael. That got me ready for my second class that I was way awake for. The coffee made the drive home much easier also. Sometimes, I really cant remember why I stopped drinking coffee. I love it. Well, i am off to bed. Need to get ready for another fun filled day. Tommorrow is the first day of our drug and alcohol intervention group. i am pumped. Good night.

This is what life is all about!!

Just got back from my parent's house. Had omelette for dinner. Mmmm good. My mom thinks that since I dont eat red meat, I must not be getting enough protein in my diet, so she decided to make eggs for dinner. How sweet is she? :)

Well, that is not the great news. The great news is that the reservations have been set. We dont actually have the tickets in our hands, but it is basically a done deal. We are going to lebanon from December 14 to January 3. I am so excited, I cannot contain myself!! i am going to miss everyone around here over the holidays, but life in Lebanon around Christmas is unbelievable. There really are no words to describe it. I miss my family over there so much, it is going to be so wonderful to spend some time with all of them.

that sucked

I just got a call from Kim and man, i really hate goodbyes. She called and told me how much I meant to her and thanked me for always being there for her. I couldnt even talk, I was crying so bad. It makes me so happy to know that she is going to do exactly what she has always wanted to do, but it makes me so sad to not have her around. I am really going to miss her. I know she is off to do great things for the world, but i get to be selfish tonight and be sad that she is leaving. Kim, I wish you all the best in this world, you deserve it. Thank you for being such an amazing woman.

one of the best trips to Austin ever!!

So, for all you sheltered folks who gave me crap for going to Austin with a guy I barely know, all i have to say is neener, neener because I had a blast. Just teasing.

the drive down was great. Michael and I talked the entire time. It was really nice to be able to discuss such valuable topics. We talked about values and beliefs and current issues. It was great conversation.

We drove straight to Trudy's as is the tradition. We met Kim, May-Ling, Ted and many of Kim's friends. Drank a few Mexican Martinis and had much more great conversation. We headed back to May-ling's and i crashed out for a few hours and Michael and May-Ling just talked the night away. It was a really nice night.

saturday, we all slept in. It was so nice, i dont get to sleep in very often anymore. We finally woke up, had some lunch at Hyde Park Grill. I fought it out with a garden burger that I just could not finish. But, i won the fight, i beat the burger. Yeah for me!! Well, we jetted off to the mall to join may-ling at her mystery shopping. I bought a John Bongiovi CD. This was before Bon Jovi the band, this was during Jon's solo time. Good CD. then, off to see Lily (May-Ling's sis) for a bit. Then, met up with Kim, had some dinner with Kim, laura, anuj, and Michael. went to see Brett Baldwin perform on the front lawn of a jewelry store. Great music and great atmosphere. It was so nice. The weather was nice, the company was nice, the music was nice and the shiner was nice. :) Then, met up with may-ling and ted again and spent the rest of the evening at Spider House. I love austin coffee shops. After a good time there and much talk of Rent, we headed back to may-ling's place for some hardcore Guesstures and Taboo competition. After that, the worst part of the weekend happened, I had to say goodbye to Kim who is leaving to teach English in France for at least a year. It was oh so sad. Now, we all know that I am super bad at goodbyes and this one was no different. Many tears were shed and many nice words were spoken. I am really going to miss her. Good luck, Kim.

Once again, we all slept in this morning and then had some lunch and Michael and I headed back to the big D. The drive home was also very nice. Much more conversation, a bit more personal this time. Let's just say that many drunk embarassing stories were shared. you know you're getting personal when you tell people all the crazy shit you do when you're drunk. :) Anyway, i got home a bit ago, caught up with my roommate a bit and am about to sit down to watch the Live of David Gale. i have been wanting to see this movie for some time, so I am pretty excited. i'm out.

A few funny anecdotes from an evening at Mark and Nat's

I had a great time tonight. You know, it is so wonderful to me how i can spend a night with some good buds just hanging out and talking and it can make the world seem like a better place. Much fun was had tonight, here are a few highlights.

I did recieve a bit of crap for deciding to drive to austin with I guy I barely know. but, I dont think this should surprise anyone that knows me well. I have always been a risktaker and will always be a risktaker. Besides, i will never turn down a chance to make a new friend.

We spent some time watching Spike, the network for men. We watched this show that Zaidoun and Mark love. It is called MXC or Most Xtreme Elimination Challenge. It was pretty funny. It was a challenge where people try and do crazy things like use a long pole to jump over this lake and onto a small platform or run through a maze without getting caught and thrown into a lake of muck. anyway, the funniest part of it all was that it was in japanese and it was dubbed to english. It was hilarious. The names that the players used were pretty damn funny also. one girl's name was Leitenant Muffy Driver. What? It was a very amusing show.

We also watched some CMT for a few minutes so we could hear Toby Keith sing his amazing song about 9/11. Insert sarcasm here. One of the lines that stuck out the most for me is "I'll put my boot in your ass, It's the American way." Enough said.

Also, I learned what FUBAR means Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition. i always heard people saying that, but i never really knew what it stood for. you learn something knew everyday. :)

Anyway, it was a great evening. I also got to see Jared so I could wish him well on his journey through the military. Good times with good friends. Well, i am off to pack for tomorrow. I work till 3 and then enjoy a blissful weekend of fun and friends in the beautiful city of Austin. i'm out.

Great news!!

last night in class, i was talking to some buds and telling them about how excited I was to get out of town and head to austin. one of the guys in my class, Michael, overheard us and said that he was thinking of going to austin also. I invited him along. we exchanged numbers and he told me he would call today to let me know if he could go. he just called and he is coming and he is acutally driving. How fabulous is that? I dont even have to drive. Woo hoo!! Anyway, I have had a few classes with Michael. He seems pretty cool. We have talked a bit. i am excited, making new friends is always so much fun.

So, today is 9/11. Take a moment to remember if you havent already. On that note, I saw 25th Hour recently and I believe it is one of the first movies to show ground zero. It was pretty impactful.

well, I am pretty scared. I met with my supervisor today and she taught us all these techniques that we are supposed to use with clients and I am feeling very uncertain about my skills. Learning how to be a therapist is very challenging. they are so many rules and guidelines. It is not just chit chatting it up with someone, you actually have to follow a specific treatment plan with each client. It all makes a lot of sense to me, but I am still pretty scared. I start our drug and alcohol intervention group next week. I am really excited about it. I watched two videos that we use in that group today. one deals with drugs and the other with alcohol. They were amazing, they made a great impact on me. I cried in the drug one. It was so eye opening to learn how drugs and alcohol can affect people's lives, especially teens. It was so sad to hear about people dying in drug overdoses or seeing the car that someone died in while they were driving drunk. they had family members of the people that died talk about how it affected them. There was one guy who drove drunk and killed his two best friends who were in the car with him. He spoke from jail because he was convicted on two charges of vehicular manslaughter. He said that being in jail was hard, but not the hardest part. He said the hardest part was living with the fact that he killed his two best friends. Wow. I think people often forget that even if they dont care what happens to them, there are others in this world that do. They were both very powerful videos.

Since I am graduating in May, many people have asked me what I plan to do once I graduate. So, yesterday in class, i came up with a small list of some of my options once I graduate. Here they are. I could work as a therapist in a wilderness camp for at risk youth. This is something I have always wanted to do. I know several of the camps I would work at, I have researched them plenty. There are a few in Utah I would love to work at. I could also move to Lebanon for a few years and help set up a therapy/prevention education program through the American University of Beirut (AUB). I think this would be an amazing experience for me and it is something they desperatly need over there. I could find a job here in dallas and just work full time for once in my life. That would be kind of nice and then I wouldnt have to make the scary leap out of texas. I could also be a professor at a community college or an adjunt professor at a university. That would be really interesting to work with college students instead of high school students. I could also find a high school teaching position and go through the Region 10 program to get my teaching certificate. Or, I could just pack up and move to California :) and find an amazing social service position there. I feel that I have good social skills and that I could form a support network for myself no matter where I move, but it is still very scary for me to think of packing up and leaving all my family and amazing friends that I have here. Well, at least I still have 9 months before I really have to figure this all out. If you all have any suggestions, please let me know. :)

Well, I am off to take a nice relaxing bath on my one evening off before heading over to mark and nat's.

this will be a short one

Classes were long yesterday. Boring and long. Drive home was also very long, I was pooped. Well, my roommate went off to College Station again, so the house is mine tonight when I get home. :) Waiting for class to start now. Internship went well today, saw several clients. Excited about seeing, mark, nat, tom, scott, and denise tommorrow night. I miss you guys. Also pumped about heading to austin on friday. YEAH FOR TRUDYS!! I'm off to take a quick nap before class starts.

more to share

Just got back from Forney and I have a few mintues before I head off to class, so I thought I would catch you all up. For the visit I supervise this morning, the parents didnt show up. It totally sucked. The boys were completely crushed. another heart breaking experience at work. :( I sat and played with the boys for a half hour to take their mind off their crappy parents. that was a nice time.

Two mornings in a row of window weather. Exceptional!! So nice.

On Friday, i was told by the 13 year old boy I pick up from Grand Prairie that I was the coolest person he has worked with at the center. I responded with you are the coolest kid I have worked with. It felt really nice to get such a sweet compliment from such a great kid.

Congrats to Denise and Scott. 4 years together!! I am so happy for the both of you. I expect an invite to the wedding. :)

Yesterday, I saw a beautiful mint condition red convertible thunderbird parked right next to my car at work. It was wonderful. Even had a pair of fuzzy red dice in the mirror.

On my way home yesterday, the sky looked beautiful, I wish you all could have seen it.

Saturday night, i got drunk dialed by Nat and Denise. It was pretty funny. I was totally asleep, so I didnt make much sense, but it was nice of them to call. It is nice to know that people think of me when they hear Bon Jovi. :)

Sunday night was very nice, I spent much time with my roommate cruising around in the spectacular window weather. Monday wasnt that bad at all. I worked about 10 hours (yeah for money) and then had dinner with the parents. dad and I worked on my car a bit, nothing major, just some routine maintenance. Yesterday evening, I hung out with Leslie some more. She had to put her hamsters down yesterday, they were sick. She was pretty sad, so we hung out and I tried my best to make her feel better. :(

Well, off to class for me!!

the most relaxing weekend ever :)

Friday after work, I was way tired and stressed, so i came home and attempted to take a nap. The plan for the evening was to head over to the velvet hookah in Addison, but I was way too pooped to do anything, so i had a few beers and i was asleep on the couch by 9:30 and in bed by 10:30. It was a great evening. Saturday, I slept in a bit, did some reading, worked out, swam and did some shopping. A perfect day. I ate dinner at Fadi's with May-Ling and Leith. Excellent food, company and conversation. It was really nice to see May-Ling and Leith. I am really pumped about hanging out with them this coming weekend. After dinner, i decided to have some more nada time. My roommate was out babysitting, so I hung out in the nook and listened to some nice music and just chilled. It was truly perfection. Today, i woke up, did some studying, some cleaning, some more studying and now I am just relaxing. I think I am going to work one of these relaxing weekends into my schedule once a month. I might even write it in my planner in the hopes that it will really happen. :) well, I am off to do some more relaxing in order to get myself ready for a new week to begin.

Being a poor grad student kind of sucks

Well, i just filled out the FAFSA online to see if I qualify for any financial aid. I hope I do. That would be a great help in being able to finish this degree by next spring without pushing myself way too hard. :)

Finally

I think our crazy president might have actually done something right for once. Rape in the prison system has been a problem in the US for way too long. President George W. Bush signed into law the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003, marking the first time the U.S. government has ever passed a law to deal with sexual assault behind bars. Most people dont want to think about how bad it is for prisoners in jail because they have committed a crime. Most people believe that they get whatever they deserve because they are criminals. But, in my opinion, if someone commits a crime, they deserve to go to jail, but they do not deserve to be raped in jail. Anyway, I know this is not a very uplifting topic, but I am really glad that we are finally facing the fact that it does happen and at least this is a beginning to stopping it.

another crazy night :)

So, i just finished watching American History X with my roommate because she had never seen it. That is a damn hard movie to watch, but it is also so very powerful. Anyway, earlier tonight, i watched 25th Hour, which was also very hard to watch, but also very good. Some movies have a really amazing way of showing you what a harsh, cruel world we live in, but also how people can change and make our world just a bit better.

Anyway, today at my internship was pretty great. I didnt have any new clients to see because we have to wait for them to do something wrong at their home campus and then they get referred over to us. :) My supervisor said to give it a few more weeks and we will be way busy. Anyway, Miriam (the other UTA intern I work with) and I talked for quite a bit today. We took a super long lunch and just chatted. She is 29 and is also working and pursuing her master's in social work. It was really nice to talk to her. We talked a lot about relationships and we had a lot in common. Many men she has dated have told her some of the same things I have heard from men I have dated. it was nice to bounce some thoughts off her. we have a lot of the same ideas about getting ourselves and our lives the way we want them and if a relationship fits into that, then great, if not, it wont be a problem. it was nice to talk to someone who is kind of in the same boat as I am.

We also spent much time talking with our supervisor today about all kinds of great issues like what it means to be a social worker and about society and what people believe in this world. we also talked a lot about how much teens have to deal with nowadays. My supervisor rocks, she is very knowledgable and she is a social worker herself, so that is way great. She has a lot of great insight to offer, i really feel like I am going to learn a lot from her. the individual counseling sessions with the students are going pretty well. i definitley still have a lot to learn, but i am on the right track and I think my heart is in the right place, so that is all I can ask for right now. I am also really pumped about a group session we are starting next week dealing with drugs and alcohol. I am really excited, it is going to be a coed psychoeducational group with about 5-6 students about how alcohol and drugs have affected these student's lives. I think it is going to be way great.

This evening, i also spent a bit of time with Nick, Zaidoun and one of Zaidoun's buds up at Afrah, a little arabic bakery with narghiles for your smoking enjoyment. It was so nice, the weather was great and the conversation was good. I hadnt seen Zaidoun in quite a while, it was nice.

tommorrow, i dont work till 11. yeah!! after work, i am heading over to the new Velvet Hookah for some drinking and smoking enjoyment. well, i am off to bed. Have a great friday!!

Congrats Denise!!

Sending another shout out to all these folks heading back into higher education. Denise, congrats on getting into the university of Houston public health program for you master's degree. I am sure you will kick ass in the program. I am going to miss you around here, but I am sure you will love it. this just means we need to party hard for the rest of this year. :)

PhD students as professors

So, for my class tonight, we have a PhD student teaching the class. the class is basically about therapy and intervention strategies for doing direct practice with children and families. It is a very interesting course and the prof is one of the most charismatic people I have met in a long time. We had 3 hours of straight lecture tonight and yet it was so amusing. He adds in many stories that are so funny, it really keeps you paying attention. He is actually a military social worker. Some of the things he said i thought were inappropriate, but still damn funny. It is a nice change of pace to have a teacher who is not so worried about being PC. Anyway, he said one of the funniest things I have heard in a long time. he was telling us this long drawn out story and the whole point of it was that you can only control how you react to things, you can never control how other people react. anyway at one point, he said something about how he was at the store buying some bread and a complete stranger came up to him and called him an asshole. He said he wanted to "open the bread and make an ass sandwich". It was so damn funny, I almost fell out of my seat. I think what adds to his humor are his mannerisms, his non verbal cues add so much to his lectures. Anyway, that is my story for tonight. I am off to bed, I am pooped.

oh yeah, talked to May-Ling tonight on my way home. It was soooooo nice to talk to her for real instead of just through her blog. :) I am going to dinner at Fadi's with her and leith on saturday. Good times ahead. Also, the trip to austin is set for next weekend. Woo hoo!! all right, i am done rambling. good night.

i think i just planned a trip to austin while driving 80 mph on I-30 and talking on my new hands free phone!

Well, Monday was completely perfect. Even though I had to write a paper, it was so nice to have some down time. I did some laundry, cleaned the apartment a bit, ate dinner with the fam, wrote my paper and watched a movie. All this was by myself, it was perfection. It was nice to have some relaxing time with just me.

Tuesday was completely crazy, as usual. Drove to Forney in the morning for work, then headed to A town for two classes. They were both pretty interesting, especially the domestic violence one. You know that a woman will be beaten by her partner 30-40 times before making the first report. How crazy is that? I know quite a bit about domestic violence because of my work with sexual assault, but i had never learned that statistic. It really hit home with me how hard it is for these women to get out these abusive relationships. I also learned that Bill Clinton was raised by an abusive, alcholic stepfather who tried to shoot his mom while Bill watched. Bill was only 5 years old at the time. the best part of my day on Tuesday (made the whole day easier to get through) was playing with a 3 year old boy at work. He was all smiles and so much fun to hang out with. It brightened my whole day.

A really frustrating part of my day was that I had to drive around the parking lot on campus for almost 45 minutes before finding a parking spot. I felt like I was back in austin. It makes me wonder why I spent $80 on a parking permit when it takes me 45 minutes to find a spot. That is very silly to me.

Today, I saw a few more clients at my internship. I am really enjoying this internship, i think I am going to learn a lot. I feel like I have already learned a lot. I like the fact that there is some down time while i am there. I am so used to always going, going, going. This place allows for some breaks in the day, it is nice. I dont like the fact that I dont have internet acess at my internship, but i think i will make it. :)

I am at school right now waiting for class to start. The drive today wasnt bad at all, spent most of it on the phone. I think i am going to austin next weekend. Kim is moving to france on Sept. 20 to teach english over there. I am really excited for her, but i am going to miss her. her birthday is also coming up, so I am going to jet to austin to see her one last time before she heads off and party hard for her birthday. Yeah, I really miss austin, i feel like i havent been there in quite a while. Trudy's here I come!!!! well, i am looking forward to tommorrow, all i have to do is my internship from 8-4. That sounds so wonderful. Well, I am off to class.

What a weekend

So, I just got my computer up and running wonderfully. after spending almost 6 hours working on it yesterday, i was finally able to transfer all the files I wanted from my old computer to this new one and everything is working like a charm. YEAH!!

well, saturday was nice. I went to dinner with Jay, Will, and Deb at the Blue Fish. It was so much fun. We sat at the hibachi grill and Mike (our personal hibachi chef) cooked all kinds of great food for us. Then, Jenn arrived and we went to the Velvet Hookah. we ordered Bananas Bakers, but the Hookah Master (i think you should have to earn that name) kept bringing us a cherry cola flavor. Anyway, it all worked out in the end and we had a great time. Jay, Will, Deb, and Sara took off to go party on the town and Jenn and i stayed to catch up on old times. After a while, jenn and I headed home and just chatted the night away. I was up at about 10 to see jenn off, then i spent most of the afternoon working on my new computer.

well, it seems that i left my debit card at the Velvet Hookah, so sunday evening, i went to pick it up, had dinner with nick and smoked some delicious strawberry hookah. good times. I spent most of the time bitching about life and it was nice of him to listen. Thanks, Nick. later in the evening, Jay, Will, Deb, Ed, and I all hung at my place, smoked some hookah and watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding. That movie is still as funny as ever. "What you mean you dont eat no meat? that's ok, I make lamb." How damn funny is that? anyway, today, I have much schoolwork to do for this coming week and then dinner with the fam and hopefully if i finish up with my work, i can take some time to relax and watch 25th Hour. Leslie is in College Station again, so the place is all mine. I could seriously use some relaxing time before I start another crazy week. well, i am off to attempt to study.