Dude, it's sleeting outside. It was sixty degrees two days ago. Balmy. Even after the sun went down. And now I could probably ice skate on the patio. Looks like Pete and I came in from walking just in time. It's quite inhospitable out.
There's this song by the band Plumb called Manic. Is she really singing about someone being manic? Like, clinically manic? Amazing what makes it into songs these days.
I have a to-do list of about 19 items and growing. I've completed 3 items thus far. I really should vacuum. Vacuuming is like, the prep before the cooking. I'm having trouble getting started. I should light some candles. No, i don't procrastinate, why do you ask?...
Okay here's the plan, I'll just vacuum the hallway for now so I can separate the laundry, and then I'll throw a load in, and then I'll continue to vacuum. Sounds good, okay. 1-2-3, SATURDAY! woo.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
If you want your dog to love you...
...grab a frying pan and cook up some bacon. Today was the worst. Well, perhaps not the WORST but pretty bad. Let's see. I managed to piss off at least 2 pts today, and badly, I had to stay an hour late and missed zumba, and I still have unpleasantness that carries over into tomorrow. Not good.
However. I realized that if I took the left onto route 1 north, and stopped at the shoppes to get one of those fabulous shaken iced tea lemonades in passion flavor, and made a right onto 130, I could sip it the whole way home without really going out of my way.
I also realized that it was raining very hard and Petey only got a house and a half down the street when we turned around and decided to wait for the rain to ease up.
Furthermore, I realized I did not have all that much in the house to eat.
Next, I realized I could make an awesome grilled cheese with bacon and tomato.
Finally, I realized I could save the tv shows that are on tonight for hulu and order a nice movie to go along with the rest of my shaked iced tea lemonade, my grilled cheese with bacon and tomato, and the fact that the remote, for the night, is mine.
Cheers <3
However. I realized that if I took the left onto route 1 north, and stopped at the shoppes to get one of those fabulous shaken iced tea lemonades in passion flavor, and made a right onto 130, I could sip it the whole way home without really going out of my way.
I also realized that it was raining very hard and Petey only got a house and a half down the street when we turned around and decided to wait for the rain to ease up.
Furthermore, I realized I did not have all that much in the house to eat.
Next, I realized I could make an awesome grilled cheese with bacon and tomato.
Finally, I realized I could save the tv shows that are on tonight for hulu and order a nice movie to go along with the rest of my shaked iced tea lemonade, my grilled cheese with bacon and tomato, and the fact that the remote, for the night, is mine.
Cheers <3
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
The Walking Man
They sent us home early today. I know I've been feeling envious of my sister and my perception of her ability to do whatever she wants on any given day, but it was SUPER disruptive because I had so much work to do. It wasn't anyone's fault or anything, but I ran three hours' worth of group and had a lot of unfinished business. One pt's mom had called, sounding very concerned ---intermission---
Frank just came home. I should think of a nickname for him. I think I'm resentful that his job is creating these wacky hours for him. It means from 5pm and on I need to be really quiet. It's not like I was planning on vacuuming or anything, but I can't really go to bed at a reasonable hour, because I'll wake him up. Which means I go to bed when he does, at around 5, or I sleep on the couch until he gets up to go to work at 2am. I dunno it seems like a lose-lose. Impossible to totally compromise on. Anyway, in the middle of typing the word "concerned" he tried opening the front screen door which I had locked because I went to the bathroom. And it was 59 degrees in here when I got home so naturally it was warmer outside and I had the storm door open. Anyway, I sat down to finish my sentence and my train of thought had been derailed by then. Let me switch tracks.
I don't think I told you about my wardrobe malfunction yesterday. First of all, in my defense, there are two key points to remember here: 1. it's very difficult to remember from year to year which sweater dress is too short to wear lace tights versus leggings. unfortunately, the difference is crucial. 2. I only ran into the wardrobe malfunction because I've been good at going to the gym early every morning before work. So anyway, if you're good at pairing written explanation with visual imagery, you can imagine that the issue was that I overestimated the length of a sweater dress and paired it with lace tights instead of solid leggings. This I did not recognize until I was standing in the shower stall at the gym at 8:20ish am, when work starts at 8:30. Fabulous. I was so embarrassed.
And of course one of the gym ppl whose opinion I care about (because he's a trainer) pulled up in his Mercedes just as I was leaving with my pissy-face on because I was so upset with myself. I called Dinelle who really is a voice of reason when it counts, and rushed over to Walmart as it was the closest and guaranteed to be open. I embarrassingly had to bend down to sift through the leggings and found a pair and put them on in the parking lot. classy. $5.88 later, my ass was properly covered. Then the issue was that the dress was still too short for my comfort. But Dinelle, Tina and Jamie said it looked fine. So I had to be satisfied with it. That was also the day we realized we had a flea infestation at work so it's a good thing I was in layers because I had to get undressed in my driveway. Ga-ross.
Today was nonstop. got to work and clocked in at 8:40. Put lunch away, refilled water bottle, grabbed a spoon for my yogurt, gathered my paperwork, morning meeting at 8:45. Lasted until about 9:15ish. My officemate, Jackie, called out due to finding a flea on her, so naturally I was paranoid about sitting in my office. So I stood, grabbed my yogurt, discussed plans for the 11:30 group with Erica, jotted down what I had to do today, grabbed my group things including my water and a tissue, and then marched off to group. I was in group from 9:35-11:10, it was great, then I went back to my office, checked in with Erica who decided to co-facilitate the 11:30 group with me instead of sit in on an eval (zzz), listened to my voicemail msgs, called the two ppl who had no-showed to make sure they knew to call the main number tomorrow to make sure we're open, wrote a letter and photocopied it on letterhead for one pt, printed notes, and it was back to group with my water and coat, and we had group outside from 11:30 to 12:25. It was GREAT! So encouraging. ::sigh::. I had an eval that didn't get done because I really wanted to just leave and let Viking fumigate or bomb or whatever it was that they needed to do. Dinelle helped me move stuff on the floor so they could vacuum, I emailed a couple of people, and by 12:45ish I had vacated the premises. It moves so quickly. The day. It is only now 5pm but it goes so quickly because we're so busy. I'm not sure what people think of when they imagine what it's like in group psychotherapy, but it can get very tense, very awkward, very loud or very quiet, very focused or very very very tangential and flighty. I'm glad I'm taken by it. I think it makes the whole process of being a social work-y-therapist enjoyable. I hope others can find the same kind of all-encompassing activity.
Back to the walking man. I don't know if that's the name of the song or if it's just what James Taylor repeats a lot but there's a song where James Taylor repeats "walking man" and there's a man who lives on 571 along my commute road, and in the mornings a little after 7 as well as at dusk he walks along the road near his house and waves to every single car that goes by. It's very difficult to imagine this behavior in a nutshell and not give the man a name and a life that it appears he is leading. What would his intentions be with waving to all the cars? I wonder how many people wave back. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, but I always smile. I think his name is Dave.
I might post later if I'm lonely. If not, tomorrow is another day. And I will be bringing an alternate dress to wear in case the one I have picked out is too short.
Frank just came home. I should think of a nickname for him. I think I'm resentful that his job is creating these wacky hours for him. It means from 5pm and on I need to be really quiet. It's not like I was planning on vacuuming or anything, but I can't really go to bed at a reasonable hour, because I'll wake him up. Which means I go to bed when he does, at around 5, or I sleep on the couch until he gets up to go to work at 2am. I dunno it seems like a lose-lose. Impossible to totally compromise on. Anyway, in the middle of typing the word "concerned" he tried opening the front screen door which I had locked because I went to the bathroom. And it was 59 degrees in here when I got home so naturally it was warmer outside and I had the storm door open. Anyway, I sat down to finish my sentence and my train of thought had been derailed by then. Let me switch tracks.
I don't think I told you about my wardrobe malfunction yesterday. First of all, in my defense, there are two key points to remember here: 1. it's very difficult to remember from year to year which sweater dress is too short to wear lace tights versus leggings. unfortunately, the difference is crucial. 2. I only ran into the wardrobe malfunction because I've been good at going to the gym early every morning before work. So anyway, if you're good at pairing written explanation with visual imagery, you can imagine that the issue was that I overestimated the length of a sweater dress and paired it with lace tights instead of solid leggings. This I did not recognize until I was standing in the shower stall at the gym at 8:20ish am, when work starts at 8:30. Fabulous. I was so embarrassed.
And of course one of the gym ppl whose opinion I care about (because he's a trainer) pulled up in his Mercedes just as I was leaving with my pissy-face on because I was so upset with myself. I called Dinelle who really is a voice of reason when it counts, and rushed over to Walmart as it was the closest and guaranteed to be open. I embarrassingly had to bend down to sift through the leggings and found a pair and put them on in the parking lot. classy. $5.88 later, my ass was properly covered. Then the issue was that the dress was still too short for my comfort. But Dinelle, Tina and Jamie said it looked fine. So I had to be satisfied with it. That was also the day we realized we had a flea infestation at work so it's a good thing I was in layers because I had to get undressed in my driveway. Ga-ross.
Today was nonstop. got to work and clocked in at 8:40. Put lunch away, refilled water bottle, grabbed a spoon for my yogurt, gathered my paperwork, morning meeting at 8:45. Lasted until about 9:15ish. My officemate, Jackie, called out due to finding a flea on her, so naturally I was paranoid about sitting in my office. So I stood, grabbed my yogurt, discussed plans for the 11:30 group with Erica, jotted down what I had to do today, grabbed my group things including my water and a tissue, and then marched off to group. I was in group from 9:35-11:10, it was great, then I went back to my office, checked in with Erica who decided to co-facilitate the 11:30 group with me instead of sit in on an eval (zzz), listened to my voicemail msgs, called the two ppl who had no-showed to make sure they knew to call the main number tomorrow to make sure we're open, wrote a letter and photocopied it on letterhead for one pt, printed notes, and it was back to group with my water and coat, and we had group outside from 11:30 to 12:25. It was GREAT! So encouraging. ::sigh::. I had an eval that didn't get done because I really wanted to just leave and let Viking fumigate or bomb or whatever it was that they needed to do. Dinelle helped me move stuff on the floor so they could vacuum, I emailed a couple of people, and by 12:45ish I had vacated the premises. It moves so quickly. The day. It is only now 5pm but it goes so quickly because we're so busy. I'm not sure what people think of when they imagine what it's like in group psychotherapy, but it can get very tense, very awkward, very loud or very quiet, very focused or very very very tangential and flighty. I'm glad I'm taken by it. I think it makes the whole process of being a social work-y-therapist enjoyable. I hope others can find the same kind of all-encompassing activity.
Back to the walking man. I don't know if that's the name of the song or if it's just what James Taylor repeats a lot but there's a song where James Taylor repeats "walking man" and there's a man who lives on 571 along my commute road, and in the mornings a little after 7 as well as at dusk he walks along the road near his house and waves to every single car that goes by. It's very difficult to imagine this behavior in a nutshell and not give the man a name and a life that it appears he is leading. What would his intentions be with waving to all the cars? I wonder how many people wave back. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, but I always smile. I think his name is Dave.
I might post later if I'm lonely. If not, tomorrow is another day. And I will be bringing an alternate dress to wear in case the one I have picked out is too short.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Ew. Just ew.
There's something creepy crawly haunting the office these days...and it's not ghosts but I kind of think we'd all be less creeped out if the infestation was of the paranormal flavor. No, ladies and gentlemen, we've got ourselves a flea infestation. My personal first that I've ever experienced. Most unpleasant. Apparently one of the senior pts had a dead cat in the basement that had fleas and she came into program and brought her new little friends with her. And shared them, because naturally that's the spirit of program right? You come in, you share, and impart whatever it is that you're sharing upon your peers at program. Right? Not really. Not so much, no. Typically what's shared is verbal. Not creepy or crawly nor equipped with small spring-action equipment that allows the bouncy jumping and latching nonsense to occur. ::sigh::. So I got mostly undressed in my driveway and came in to shower and scrutinize my clothing and carpet in the bedroom with a flashlight because that's where I put my clothes from yesterday. I found a couple of bites on my left ankle. I showered, and just found out that Frank is going out to dinner with a shooting buddy and I'm invited so now I have to put different clothes on (not my robe or slippers unfortunately). Rats. I was looking forward to more blogging. Side note: the "new" pandora keeps starting one song and then changing its mind and switching to another song. Rude, right?
Later gator.
Later gator.
Monday, October 24, 2011
What in the world could make a brown-eyed-girl so blue?
I was thinking on the way home what I might address in this week's Monday edition. (That's when I heard the song from which I took my post title.) You don't have any expectations most probably because this is the first Monday of this particular blog, but you might, being that it's Monday, and typically the start of most working individuals' work weeks. So I thought I'd start there. It began early in the work day today, which starts at around 8:30am. One of my patients ("pts" from here on) passed me in the hall and shared that there was a puppy in the lobby and it peed on the floor. I was confused. A puppy? In our lobby? And it peed on the floor? She was directed to go to group as she was already late, and I passed Tina who is another clinician, who commented that of course something like this would happen on a Monday. She shared as she passed me that she had to clean up after the, yes puppy, who, yes peed, on our carpet in the lobby. One of her pts had asked last week if he could bring his puppy in to group and he was told not to but he heard what he wanted to hear apparently. Anyway, that was the first cliche thing to happen "on a Monday".
Perhaps now would be a good time to introduce the characters. It's Monday like I said, so yesterday they weren't around, but today they were, and they all have varying degrees of importance in my life (assigned mostly by me). These characters can be grouped as follows: Coworkers, My Pts, People I See At the Gym on an Almost Daily Basis ("gym ppl" from here on), Roommates, Family and Friends. Today I had only phone contact thus far with Family and Friends, I walked one of my roommates (<3 Petey), and saw almost all of the key players in the Coworkers and Pts groups, as well as the gym ppl group. Let me use Monday's post to dedicate to the coworkers. They're like second family anyway so I'll probably talk lots about them. Tina is in the coworker category. She's funny but she's been really stressed lately and apparently it started pretty early today with her cleaning up her pt's puppy's pee. She wears impressively stylish clothes. Then there's Dr. S. He's our Russian psychiatrist who used to be a gynecologist. I like the attitude about life that he presents with. It's refreshing. Laura was the first internship supervisor I had in grad school, and now she's in the coworker category too. She works and walks and talks like a boss boss. She'll get there someday soon I think. I aspire to one day have the attitude to match the look that she gets on her face when she's telling off Jon in her playful way. That attitude where you know you're right about something and your voice drips of it, and there's a neon sign over your head that blinks proclaiming it.
Speaking of Jon. All you need to know about Jon are the following items: he's very into his music that can range from the band that originally did "Hallelujiah" to the Arctic Monkeys, he likes Mt Dew (diet or regular), and his wife dresses him impecably on a daily basis, matching ties to socks, with daringly bright colors of shirts to match. He's a do-gooder and I aspire to be as unapologetically philanthropic someday. I wonder how many times he's been nominated Employee of the Quarter in his time there. We swap cds all the time and he insists on buying me a Dew whenever he gets them $1.11 or cheaper. Jackie is my officemate. She's going through a lot but she keeps on going. She has damn good fashion sense and a sharp eye for organization vs. clutter. I'm afraid of what she'd do to my desk if she had her way. She insists on helping me with paperwork for my track but I feel guilty doling out work to her because I'm not ready to stand by my employment title yet on my own. Laura isn't very tall but often I wish I could hide behind her.
Sheli is the wo-man at the front desk that keeps everyone--employees and pts alike-- in check. I personally think that a lot of everyday things that everyone takes for granted would completely fall to pieces if she wasn't there. When I started interning I found her very intimidating immediately recognizing that she was not one that I would want to mess with. She started calling me "our little sweetie" or something to that effect and she still does sometimes, and Jon jokingly gives her a hard time about why he isn't treated the same way when he asks her for something. Leo is the most hardcore horror addict I've ever met, and he knows Stephen King in and out so he has my respect for that first and foremost, aside from all the other reasons (like his organization tendencies that rival Jackie's).
Lauren is the art therapist. Her hair, enthusiasm, and creative ideas are all equally adorable. Apparently her kitty is too but I haven't met him yet. She had my pts today first thing and bless her soul she took their various levels of lateness in stride. Today was a busy day and so I had very little contact with anyone else other than pts. I counted once because my mom asked and I think I cited roughly 28 or 38 people that work on the same floor as me. I know that's +/- 10 people but I don't remember...Anyway I only named 8 so that'll give you some idea of how much of the day was spent locked in various rooms. Group room for group, eval room for eval, and office for paperwork and case management nonsense. I'll do a part two tomorrow. For now I'm meeting Scotto (Friend category) at Surf Taco. Shrimp taco here I come. Have a good night and congratulations!! You made it almost all the way through Monday!!
<3
Perhaps now would be a good time to introduce the characters. It's Monday like I said, so yesterday they weren't around, but today they were, and they all have varying degrees of importance in my life (assigned mostly by me). These characters can be grouped as follows: Coworkers, My Pts, People I See At the Gym on an Almost Daily Basis ("gym ppl" from here on), Roommates, Family and Friends. Today I had only phone contact thus far with Family and Friends, I walked one of my roommates (<3 Petey), and saw almost all of the key players in the Coworkers and Pts groups, as well as the gym ppl group. Let me use Monday's post to dedicate to the coworkers. They're like second family anyway so I'll probably talk lots about them. Tina is in the coworker category. She's funny but she's been really stressed lately and apparently it started pretty early today with her cleaning up her pt's puppy's pee. She wears impressively stylish clothes. Then there's Dr. S. He's our Russian psychiatrist who used to be a gynecologist. I like the attitude about life that he presents with. It's refreshing. Laura was the first internship supervisor I had in grad school, and now she's in the coworker category too. She works and walks and talks like a boss boss. She'll get there someday soon I think. I aspire to one day have the attitude to match the look that she gets on her face when she's telling off Jon in her playful way. That attitude where you know you're right about something and your voice drips of it, and there's a neon sign over your head that blinks proclaiming it.
Speaking of Jon. All you need to know about Jon are the following items: he's very into his music that can range from the band that originally did "Hallelujiah" to the Arctic Monkeys, he likes Mt Dew (diet or regular), and his wife dresses him impecably on a daily basis, matching ties to socks, with daringly bright colors of shirts to match. He's a do-gooder and I aspire to be as unapologetically philanthropic someday. I wonder how many times he's been nominated Employee of the Quarter in his time there. We swap cds all the time and he insists on buying me a Dew whenever he gets them $1.11 or cheaper. Jackie is my officemate. She's going through a lot but she keeps on going. She has damn good fashion sense and a sharp eye for organization vs. clutter. I'm afraid of what she'd do to my desk if she had her way. She insists on helping me with paperwork for my track but I feel guilty doling out work to her because I'm not ready to stand by my employment title yet on my own. Laura isn't very tall but often I wish I could hide behind her.
Sheli is the wo-man at the front desk that keeps everyone--employees and pts alike-- in check. I personally think that a lot of everyday things that everyone takes for granted would completely fall to pieces if she wasn't there. When I started interning I found her very intimidating immediately recognizing that she was not one that I would want to mess with. She started calling me "our little sweetie" or something to that effect and she still does sometimes, and Jon jokingly gives her a hard time about why he isn't treated the same way when he asks her for something. Leo is the most hardcore horror addict I've ever met, and he knows Stephen King in and out so he has my respect for that first and foremost, aside from all the other reasons (like his organization tendencies that rival Jackie's).
Lauren is the art therapist. Her hair, enthusiasm, and creative ideas are all equally adorable. Apparently her kitty is too but I haven't met him yet. She had my pts today first thing and bless her soul she took their various levels of lateness in stride. Today was a busy day and so I had very little contact with anyone else other than pts. I counted once because my mom asked and I think I cited roughly 28 or 38 people that work on the same floor as me. I know that's +/- 10 people but I don't remember...Anyway I only named 8 so that'll give you some idea of how much of the day was spent locked in various rooms. Group room for group, eval room for eval, and office for paperwork and case management nonsense. I'll do a part two tomorrow. For now I'm meeting Scotto (Friend category) at Surf Taco. Shrimp taco here I come. Have a good night and congratulations!! You made it almost all the way through Monday!!
<3
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Oh, Sundays
There is a chill in this house. It's 61 degrees and i'm not being very active so...
Why doesn't blogspot have more varied fonts to choose from? Probably because it's free, right? Pandora took my add-ons of 'slipknot' and 'volbeat' and totally ran away with my 'evanescence' station. Someone is 'RAHHH'ing from the other room. ::goes to check::. 'five finger death punch'. you don't belong on my pandora stations and it looks like you jacked your album art from iron maiden and then colored it in. i'm not interested in what you have to 'RAH' about. The past 45 minutes or so has been filled with disappointing results from my various electronic outlets. tumblr = fail. pandora = fail. gmail = fail. Are we getting spoiled with these "advancements"? i am, because i only have a vague idea of how the whole thing works. how it all comes together. so, i expect to be able to group my emails by who they're sent from, not just what's most important and what's most recent. it's the cause for my 737 emails. unread. those are only the unread ones.
short story that only nate already heard: i was straightening up a pile of stuff i shouldn't be keeping in the kitchen on the counter and saw (ew) a stink bug hiding under the window ledge. i thought it was dead so figured i'd remove it once i was done. well, it accidentally was turned over onto its back while i was moving papers and behold, it righted itself, clearly not dead. i gasped. and moved my cold cider out of the way. the end. sorry maureen, no 10 dollars found, nor handle of whatever alcohol located.
now it's time for grilled cheese. something warm and filling because it's 61 degrees in here and the most activity i'm engaged in is laundry. oh laundry. oh sundays.
this might be the start of something new. or perhaps it will turn into the continuation of something very very old news. we'll see. in the meantime, check back for more uninteresting updates on my adventures in the woods.
Why doesn't blogspot have more varied fonts to choose from? Probably because it's free, right? Pandora took my add-ons of 'slipknot' and 'volbeat' and totally ran away with my 'evanescence' station. Someone is 'RAHHH'ing from the other room. ::goes to check::. 'five finger death punch'. you don't belong on my pandora stations and it looks like you jacked your album art from iron maiden and then colored it in. i'm not interested in what you have to 'RAH' about. The past 45 minutes or so has been filled with disappointing results from my various electronic outlets. tumblr = fail. pandora = fail. gmail = fail. Are we getting spoiled with these "advancements"? i am, because i only have a vague idea of how the whole thing works. how it all comes together. so, i expect to be able to group my emails by who they're sent from, not just what's most important and what's most recent. it's the cause for my 737 emails. unread. those are only the unread ones.
short story that only nate already heard: i was straightening up a pile of stuff i shouldn't be keeping in the kitchen on the counter and saw (ew) a stink bug hiding under the window ledge. i thought it was dead so figured i'd remove it once i was done. well, it accidentally was turned over onto its back while i was moving papers and behold, it righted itself, clearly not dead. i gasped. and moved my cold cider out of the way. the end. sorry maureen, no 10 dollars found, nor handle of whatever alcohol located.
now it's time for grilled cheese. something warm and filling because it's 61 degrees in here and the most activity i'm engaged in is laundry. oh laundry. oh sundays.
this might be the start of something new. or perhaps it will turn into the continuation of something very very old news. we'll see. in the meantime, check back for more uninteresting updates on my adventures in the woods.
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