This semester...

Now that I have got that out of my system, haha, I can write about myself and all the amazing things that have been happening this semester.

 

It has definitely been a challenge. I am working 17 credits. Whew! I should not have joined band (too much work) but I love rehearsal time - it is fun. My trombone playing improves slightly each semester. Not enough to keep up with the talented musicians in the band but still an improvement. We had our first concert about a month ago (it went well) and tonight is our second. I could use about another week of rehearsal, hehee. Then after this concert we get to play for Winter Graduation, and we are actually going to get paid this time. Bonus! The sad thing is I think this is my last semester in band because next I won't have time, and I certainly won't be able to play for graduation.

 

Cognitive psych - the teacher is a bad one. Comments on Ratemyprofessor.com are that he is a GPA destroyer. He bases your grade off 3 tests and 3 tests only. His tests are wordy and confusing. Some students think he plays mind games - I can see that. If I can get through it I will be happy. I like the book and I am learning lots but the professor sucks, and what's more he us the head of the department so he can get away with all his crap. This class is definitely not the highlight of my semester.

 

The highlight of my semester is my intro. to clinical psych class. I love Dr. Douglas! He is also who I am doing my internship class with and he is a wealth of knowledge and actually cares about his students. Here is one of his quotes from last nights class, "Culture is wherever you are at, at any given time." We also had a discussion about identity and how it limits a person to strongly identify with only one or two groups. I totally concur - just what I have always believed. Other words of wisdom - being a psychologist is a lonely occupation because no one wants to be friends with you because they are afraid you are analyzing them. Ha. I can take it, I am by nature an introvert. Dr. D is so intelligent, open minded and I am learning lots from him. Dr. D is so funny too - had the whole class dying laughing one day with his talk on sexuality - does it really matter what people like to do to each other sexually? Does it really matter what some people like to put in their mouth? He then admitted if he had a plate of Brussel sprouts and a penis in front of him and was told he had to put one in his mouth he would really have to think about it! It was hilarious.

 

I love my internship. I want to do more. I am learning a lot from Dr. D and the clients - especially about how much I don't know. Dr. D also supervises grad students so it is cool to listen to their case conceptualizations (they actually get to counsel people, I just get to sit in on therapy sessions although there are opportunities for me to participate). I also love hearing about all the other intern's experiences, we meet once a week to share. That is what makes me want to do more.

 

I am taking an advanced research and writing class in psych. I am in an awesome group and we are doing research on obesity, which is very informative. It is a difficult class and the next step is that I have to develop a research project on my own. Yikes! I foresee some crabby days ahead.

 

Last and least I took another english class and I wish I hadn't except I have met some awesome people. We have been getting together for lunch at the wonderful Churchills in Flint after class - that is 'bout the only good thing about this class. The writing assignments don't really interest me, at least not right now. Plus the prof is a man and I do not write well at all for men professors - they just aren't very nurturing. I need to learn how to nurture my own writing. I am working on it. I am finding that there is a lot of 'crap' I need to write about (my life experiences) before I can truly get creative and write for school (there is a big difference in writing personal stuff, writing for school assignment and also even between writing for English classes and writing for psych classes and it is really difficult to juggle and switch between it all) - at least for the English classes. Counseling has brought to light a few things from my past that I thought I had gotten over but I have not and I need to write it all out, in addition to that I need to write about more recent events also. UGH.

 

For English class I have to keep a blog so I decided to write about trying to lose weight. Well a classmate approached me after reading my blog and asked me if I wanted to work out together on a regular basis. Reluctantly I said yes. I didn't want to hurt her feelings and I did want to start working out. So we have been working out for about 6 weeks now and we have become friends. Yay! I actually love working out if I can just keep all the other stuff I have to do from making me anxious and worried about time. I love working out on the weight machines at school. We even tried racquetball, but we mostly laughed our asses off rather than hit the ball. I feel myself getting stronger and I have lost at least 8 pounds, perhaps more. I didn't weigh myself when I began.

 

Right now I am excited about a writing group my friend Jeanette and I are trying to get started. Jeanette is a classmate from a couple of semesters ago who is working on her second degree. She used to be an English professor at Mott. We have had some great conversations about writing and about life in general and she came up with the idea of forming a writers group. We met last week and I am getting all fired up about writing again. I have to make an effort to write at least 300 words a day. Well I probably do just for school but I need to find time to write for me also.

 

So it has been a busy semester. Interesting and exciting to say the least. I am going to miss school when it done. I never want to leave, ha. Of course I am looking forward to a break but I do want to keep writing and learning.

 

On the home front, my husband finally built me my bookcases and I am on my way to creating my little library and writing space. The bookcases turned out awesome and I am so proud of my husband for doing it. Lord knows I would have messed it all up.

 

I have a lot more books to add but just haven't had time to organize stuff.

 

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Today I just found out I am going to have a new baby neice soon. Wahoo. I am so excited about that! Someone to share my babies, barbies and girly storybooks with.