Sunday, February 12, 2012
Week 49: Top Ten
All right, girls! I want to see some Top Ten lists! I don't much care what your topic is. It can be Top Ten Favorite Tropical Fish or Top Ten Reasons Cheesiest Pick Up Lines or Top Ten Reasons Why Downton Abbey needs to be released faster, but I want to read some top ten lists this week!
Friday, February 10, 2012
The last Friday JAB...
My last JAB, I really can't believe it! It seems like it was just a couple months ago, not nearly a whole year, that we were talking about this and thinking about when to start! I was still writing my thesis and completely freaking out about how I would ever finish... and now it's a year later. I'm really going to miss hearing from you guys each week. It's become an engrained part of my weeks, reading what you've got to say each week. :)
Let's see, nothing too eventful happened during the actual week, but I did go to Amsterdam last weekend with my friend Beth, so I can talk about that!
Amsterdam was beautiful during the winter. I arrived by train on the day which, most likely, will have received the most snowfall all year. As the train was approaching Amsterdam, I watched the level of snow slowly build up until there was about five centimeters on the ground. It was very pretty (especially on the first day when it was still perfect and white- see photo above), but also very cold and wet. I'd love to go back to Amsterdam in the spring or summer when it's sunny and warm and it's easier/more enjoyable to ride bikes around the city.
Some of the places Beth and I went included the Van Gogh Museum (which I LOVED, but couldn't take any pictures in- this is probably actually for the best since it really puts you in the moment), the Amsterdam Museum (which was slightly informative and very much weird), the Anne Frank House (which was very moving and sobering), and the Cat Cabinet (a museum dedicated entirely to cats!). The Cat Cabinet was so much fun; it was full of cat statues, paintings, posters, and anything else you could think of involving cats really. And also: real cats! There are six cats living there, according to the website, but we only saw two while we were there. There was also a cat who lived in our hotel (who had a cute little stubby tail) and cats in two of the restaurants we ate in. Amsterdam loves cats, apparently. And I love cats too, if I hadn't made that clear.
We were definitely in Amsterdam during its off-season for tourism, it was very easy to get in everywhere we went- museums, restaurants, etc. We also stayed in a more adult hotel, so we didn't see the traditional college students there to partake in Amsterdam's... delicacies, so to speak. Though they did just pass a law that you have to be a Netherlands citizen in order to partake, so we wouldn't have been able to even if we wanted!
Let's see, nothing too eventful happened during the actual week, but I did go to Amsterdam last weekend with my friend Beth, so I can talk about that!
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| Amsterdam at wintertime |
I've been to Bruges, Belgium twice now and the architecture there reminds me of the architecture in Amsterdam. The main difference I'd point out, though, is the height of buildings. Belgium has the same distinct, side-by-side buildings, but the ones in Amsterdam are about two stories taller than Belgium's, from what I noticed. I love how each building is a different color and has a slightly different appearance. And they all have so many windows!
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| Pigeons and snow |
Some of the places Beth and I went included the Van Gogh Museum (which I LOVED, but couldn't take any pictures in- this is probably actually for the best since it really puts you in the moment), the Amsterdam Museum (which was slightly informative and very much weird), the Anne Frank House (which was very moving and sobering), and the Cat Cabinet (a museum dedicated entirely to cats!). The Cat Cabinet was so much fun; it was full of cat statues, paintings, posters, and anything else you could think of involving cats really. And also: real cats! There are six cats living there, according to the website, but we only saw two while we were there. There was also a cat who lived in our hotel (who had a cute little stubby tail) and cats in two of the restaurants we ate in. Amsterdam loves cats, apparently. And I love cats too, if I hadn't made that clear.
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| We learned that Amsterdam has over 200 bridges, here's one of them. |
All in all it was a really nice trip and one of the best parts was getting to spend the weekend in Europe with one of my best friends!
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Wednesday is classy
Christina: I have never been to Amsterdam! I have heard it is a must-see place, though. How very cool!
Cassie: I'm glad to hear auditions are going well!
So. My JAB week. My last JAB week.
I'm not sure what to write about!
So I guess I'll write about my classes and how they're going so far.
I should preface: 75% of my classes this semester are taught by the same professor, Dr. N. The remaining class is taught by Dr. E. I'm not sure why that was important to say at the get-go, but I should also say that I am delighted to have, for the first time possibly ever, a professor in every class who actually knows the material. Whether he or she is an apt teacher of that material is almost (upcoming pun intended) immaterial; for once, they actually know what they're talking about. This is freaking unprecedented.
Okay. So. My classes.
On Mondays from 6:30 to 9:10, I have psychopathology with Dr. N. So far, this class is just a load of fun (for real). We get to learn about all sorts of mental disorders, how they're classified, how to start treating them, etc. Dr. N knows this stuff, and he is a very good teacher of it. And my classmates are pretty awesome, in that they also know a lot and are willing to discuss it. So it's pretty great.
On Wednesdays from 6:30 to 9:10, I have techniques of group counseling with Dr. E. Now, I'm not sure yet whether Dr. E will be an effective professor or try to treat class as an overgrown group therapy session, but this woman knows her group counseling. She actually likes--nay, prefers!--group counseling to individual counseling, which is relatively unheard of in this profession. And, at the very least, I find her enthusiasm contagious, and the texts are enlightening. It gets a bit old when she reads directly from the Word doc outline of notes (most of which consists of direct quotes from the reading anyway), but it is a good time to catch up on reading or Fruit Ninja on my iPad.
Thursday from 2:00 to 4:40 is psychopharmacology, again with Dr. N. This class is, broadly speaking, about psychotropic drugs (that is, drugs that affect the mind) and how they do what they do. It's hella intimidating. I'm hella glad I didn't go into pharmacy, as did some of my more ambitious friends. I'm enjoying it so far, and Dr. N is a good teacher of this material as well, but pretty soon it's going to turn from "This is the brain! It has nerves!" to "Now, acetylcholine is an agonist for this and that and OMG SO MANY THINGS TO REMEMBER WHAT IS GOING ON." (The latter was in my reading for tomorrow's class, and I really don't know whether acetylcholine is an agonist for anything. The only reason I know I spelled "acetylcholine" right is because there is no red squiggly line under it as I type.) So that should be fun.
After that, Thursdays from 5:00 to 9:00 is spent in practicum. This is where we get to the meat of counseling--I get to see actual clients. I get to influence actual people, with actual problems, who are going to come to me for an actual session to get actual therapy. I don't have a client yet, but many of my classmates do. I feel pretty decently prepared to do a pretty decent job once I do get a client, as long as I don't get thrown a curveball.
(Example of a curveball: One of my friends got a client who had previously been in therapy with an older student who graduated and therefore passed his clientele onto younger student counselors. When last the old counselor saw Client, things were going ostensibly well. But then, during my friend A's first session with Client [his first-ever client], Client disclosed that he had attempted suicide during the intermission between counselors. Cue faculty supervisor intervention, etc. And as if that weren't enough, in their third session together, Client [a minor] disclosed that his alcoholic mother's boyfriend had punched him. Cue calls to Child Protective Services, etc. My friend A is feeling just an eeeeensy bit like he was tossed into the deep end hitched to a cinderblock.)
So that's where I am. I'll have an update in the upcoming weeks about getting a client, if the Fates have me in kind sight.
And if the Fates are being very kind, my first session will not include disclosures of self-harm.
Happy days to you all!
Cassie: I'm glad to hear auditions are going well!
So. My JAB week. My last JAB week.
I'm not sure what to write about!
So I guess I'll write about my classes and how they're going so far.
I should preface: 75% of my classes this semester are taught by the same professor, Dr. N. The remaining class is taught by Dr. E. I'm not sure why that was important to say at the get-go, but I should also say that I am delighted to have, for the first time possibly ever, a professor in every class who actually knows the material. Whether he or she is an apt teacher of that material is almost (upcoming pun intended) immaterial; for once, they actually know what they're talking about. This is freaking unprecedented.
Okay. So. My classes.
On Mondays from 6:30 to 9:10, I have psychopathology with Dr. N. So far, this class is just a load of fun (for real). We get to learn about all sorts of mental disorders, how they're classified, how to start treating them, etc. Dr. N knows this stuff, and he is a very good teacher of it. And my classmates are pretty awesome, in that they also know a lot and are willing to discuss it. So it's pretty great.
On Wednesdays from 6:30 to 9:10, I have techniques of group counseling with Dr. E. Now, I'm not sure yet whether Dr. E will be an effective professor or try to treat class as an overgrown group therapy session, but this woman knows her group counseling. She actually likes--nay, prefers!--group counseling to individual counseling, which is relatively unheard of in this profession. And, at the very least, I find her enthusiasm contagious, and the texts are enlightening. It gets a bit old when she reads directly from the Word doc outline of notes (most of which consists of direct quotes from the reading anyway), but it is a good time to catch up on reading or Fruit Ninja on my iPad.
Thursday from 2:00 to 4:40 is psychopharmacology, again with Dr. N. This class is, broadly speaking, about psychotropic drugs (that is, drugs that affect the mind) and how they do what they do. It's hella intimidating. I'm hella glad I didn't go into pharmacy, as did some of my more ambitious friends. I'm enjoying it so far, and Dr. N is a good teacher of this material as well, but pretty soon it's going to turn from "This is the brain! It has nerves!" to "Now, acetylcholine is an agonist for this and that and OMG SO MANY THINGS TO REMEMBER WHAT IS GOING ON." (The latter was in my reading for tomorrow's class, and I really don't know whether acetylcholine is an agonist for anything. The only reason I know I spelled "acetylcholine" right is because there is no red squiggly line under it as I type.) So that should be fun.
After that, Thursdays from 5:00 to 9:00 is spent in practicum. This is where we get to the meat of counseling--I get to see actual clients. I get to influence actual people, with actual problems, who are going to come to me for an actual session to get actual therapy. I don't have a client yet, but many of my classmates do. I feel pretty decently prepared to do a pretty decent job once I do get a client, as long as I don't get thrown a curveball.
(Example of a curveball: One of my friends got a client who had previously been in therapy with an older student who graduated and therefore passed his clientele onto younger student counselors. When last the old counselor saw Client, things were going ostensibly well. But then, during my friend A's first session with Client [his first-ever client], Client disclosed that he had attempted suicide during the intermission between counselors. Cue faculty supervisor intervention, etc. And as if that weren't enough, in their third session together, Client [a minor] disclosed that his alcoholic mother's boyfriend had punched him. Cue calls to Child Protective Services, etc. My friend A is feeling just an eeeeensy bit like he was tossed into the deep end hitched to a cinderblock.)
So that's where I am. I'll have an update in the upcoming weeks about getting a client, if the Fates have me in kind sight.
And if the Fates are being very kind, my first session will not include disclosures of self-harm.
Happy days to you all!
Monday, February 6, 2012
Monday has spent much of her recent time reading...
Hello, girls! It's Monday!
So, I spent a lot of last week's post talking about the things I would normally talk about in a JAB post, in terms of my stress levels, but that doesn't mean I don't have things to talk about this week, too!
Thankfully, my stress levels have decreased noticeably since a week ago. This is due to many small changes -- my classes are now closed, so my rosters have settled; one class is at least two weeks ahead of schedule; we had one very successful afternoon of one act auditions, which provides good hope for tomorrow; and I got my first paycheck from the new job, so was able to do the grocery shopping I'd been putting off for about a week. And there's something about full cupboards that helps put minds at ease.
My classes and Horizon projects are my life at the moment, so I hope you won't mind if I go on about them. Who knows? Some of it might be interesting to you.
I am teaching two Story Theatre classes, whose objective is to adapt part of a work of children's literature for the stage. One class has nothing to report but a list of books still forty titles long. The other, though, is miles ahead of schedule and has their top five selections already in place, ready to choose their selection next meeting. They have a tough choice, between The World's Worst Fairy Godmother by Bruce Coville, The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forrester, Half Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer, "The Lost Girls" by Jane Yolen, and any of the Harry Potter books. Which means I have five books to read this week and find possible scenes from!
My original story class is formulating an interesting world. I was fearful for the first few moments of discussion that they were headed down the same path as every group of twelve year olds seems to come up with -- secret super powers and conspiracies. But after some gentle steering away from that, they've created a world that is actually very interesting to me. They've imagined a United States 600 years in the future, after we have reached the pinnacle of technological advancement and realized that all quality of life had subsequently disappeared. So society destroyed itself and built a new world out of the rubble, returning to pre-industrial society, where use of technology is taboo. The rest of it is too complicated and unsettled to get into, but the core idea is very interesting to me.
And, as I said, we had our first day of auditions for one acts today, and 20 students showed up! We'd like to get about 35-40 altogether, so if tomorrow pans out and is equally successful, we'll meet out goal! Which is very encouraging, especially since this project is brand new and my baby, and things like this are always a crapshoot in terms of how many students and what ages will show up.
And that's pretty much my life at the moment. Casting and scheduling and reading recommended children's books and typing up script selections. But the balls in the air are now at a manageable level. Also, I've started watching Downton Abbey, and I love it, which is bad, because I only have one episode left in season one, and that's as much as they have on Netflix. Why does British TV have to be so good???
The boyfriend has also been reading The Hunger Games. He's about 3/4 of the way through Catching Fire, and it's been immensely amusing to hear his commentary as he goes along. I can't wait for the movie!
I hope life around the globe is going well for all of you!
So, I spent a lot of last week's post talking about the things I would normally talk about in a JAB post, in terms of my stress levels, but that doesn't mean I don't have things to talk about this week, too!
Thankfully, my stress levels have decreased noticeably since a week ago. This is due to many small changes -- my classes are now closed, so my rosters have settled; one class is at least two weeks ahead of schedule; we had one very successful afternoon of one act auditions, which provides good hope for tomorrow; and I got my first paycheck from the new job, so was able to do the grocery shopping I'd been putting off for about a week. And there's something about full cupboards that helps put minds at ease.
My classes and Horizon projects are my life at the moment, so I hope you won't mind if I go on about them. Who knows? Some of it might be interesting to you.
I am teaching two Story Theatre classes, whose objective is to adapt part of a work of children's literature for the stage. One class has nothing to report but a list of books still forty titles long. The other, though, is miles ahead of schedule and has their top five selections already in place, ready to choose their selection next meeting. They have a tough choice, between The World's Worst Fairy Godmother by Bruce Coville, The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forrester, Half Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer, "The Lost Girls" by Jane Yolen, and any of the Harry Potter books. Which means I have five books to read this week and find possible scenes from!
My original story class is formulating an interesting world. I was fearful for the first few moments of discussion that they were headed down the same path as every group of twelve year olds seems to come up with -- secret super powers and conspiracies. But after some gentle steering away from that, they've created a world that is actually very interesting to me. They've imagined a United States 600 years in the future, after we have reached the pinnacle of technological advancement and realized that all quality of life had subsequently disappeared. So society destroyed itself and built a new world out of the rubble, returning to pre-industrial society, where use of technology is taboo. The rest of it is too complicated and unsettled to get into, but the core idea is very interesting to me.
And, as I said, we had our first day of auditions for one acts today, and 20 students showed up! We'd like to get about 35-40 altogether, so if tomorrow pans out and is equally successful, we'll meet out goal! Which is very encouraging, especially since this project is brand new and my baby, and things like this are always a crapshoot in terms of how many students and what ages will show up.
And that's pretty much my life at the moment. Casting and scheduling and reading recommended children's books and typing up script selections. But the balls in the air are now at a manageable level. Also, I've started watching Downton Abbey, and I love it, which is bad, because I only have one episode left in season one, and that's as much as they have on Netflix. Why does British TV have to be so good???
The boyfriend has also been reading The Hunger Games. He's about 3/4 of the way through Catching Fire, and it's been immensely amusing to hear his commentary as he goes along. I can't wait for the movie!
I hope life around the globe is going well for all of you!
A late Friday...
I'm sorry for not posting in Friday! I was in Amsterdam Friday-Sunday with my friend Beth and I completely forgot to post before I left. I remembered in the hotel room, but it was too late at that point... sigh. I live about four and a half hours away from Amsterdam by train and Beth was in Amsterdam for a business trip. She was able to stay the weekend after her business was done and we got to have a mini vacation! Neither of us ever thought we'd end up in Amsterdam together and it was a lot of fun. We also happened to end up in Amsterdam on what could end up being the one weekend out of the year when they got lots and lots of snow. Well, lots of snow for Amsterdam- about 5 inches or so. The trains and public transport were just a complete mess, so I think we got a unique Amsterdam experience!
Okay, well stress, let's see. At the beginning of the weekend my stress level was very low because I had a whole fun vacation weekend to look forward to and I was going to get to see one of my best friends! I also already had all my lessons ready for Monday, so I wouldn't have to worry about any work over the weekend. The train delays and weather added a little bit of stress, but I knew I'd get where I needed to go eventually so I wasn't too stressed out about it all. A bit of stress did get added of course when I realized I'd forgotten my blog post, but I tried to not stress about it too much because I knew there wasn't anything I could do about it at the time. My stress right now is a bit higher because I have another week of work ahead of me and I need to plan some lessons. I also need to start preparing for the GRE in a more serious mindset and do some more grad school research. My assistantship will also be ending in about two and a half months, so I really need to think of options for the year before grad school starts (assuming I get in)! So all those little things mean that my stress level is probably about a 4 out of 10. Not too high, but still detectable.
Overall I think I deal with stress pretty well. In college I was the traditional procrastinator, so I suppose you could say stress was necessary for my work. Occasionally it would overwhelm me, but for the most part it helped me get my papers and projects done. I try not to let stress get the better of me because that won't help anyone really, will it?
And wow, is it seriously our last JAB this week? I can't believe how fast this went by!
Okay, well stress, let's see. At the beginning of the weekend my stress level was very low because I had a whole fun vacation weekend to look forward to and I was going to get to see one of my best friends! I also already had all my lessons ready for Monday, so I wouldn't have to worry about any work over the weekend. The train delays and weather added a little bit of stress, but I knew I'd get where I needed to go eventually so I wasn't too stressed out about it all. A bit of stress did get added of course when I realized I'd forgotten my blog post, but I tried to not stress about it too much because I knew there wasn't anything I could do about it at the time. My stress right now is a bit higher because I have another week of work ahead of me and I need to plan some lessons. I also need to start preparing for the GRE in a more serious mindset and do some more grad school research. My assistantship will also be ending in about two and a half months, so I really need to think of options for the year before grad school starts (assuming I get in)! So all those little things mean that my stress level is probably about a 4 out of 10. Not too high, but still detectable.
Overall I think I deal with stress pretty well. In college I was the traditional procrastinator, so I suppose you could say stress was necessary for my work. Occasionally it would overwhelm me, but for the most part it helped me get my papers and projects done. I try not to let stress get the better of me because that won't help anyone really, will it?
And wow, is it seriously our last JAB this week? I can't believe how fast this went by!
Week 48: One last jab
All right, guys, it's our last JAB week of the year (of this project), and with five weeks left . . . we're dropping like flies.
I know people are busy and stressed and halfway around the world with spotty internet, but it would mean a lot to me if this didn't just die a fizzled-out death at the end. Let's end strong and put as much effort (me included; I've been slacking) into the end of this project as we did in the beginning!
Thanks, girls. I can't believe it's almost over. Here's to going out with a bang!
I know people are busy and stressed and halfway around the world with spotty internet, but it would mean a lot to me if this didn't just die a fizzled-out death at the end. Let's end strong and put as much effort (me included; I've been slacking) into the end of this project as we did in the beginning!
Thanks, girls. I can't believe it's almost over. Here's to going out with a bang!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Wednesday is a point on a stress continuum
Christina: What a story! I’m glad nothing worse befell!
Cassie: Post-Its are amazing. They have saved me in many a stressful situation!
My current stress level is perhaps 3.5-4 out of ten. I’m a solidly chill person, and I’m pretty good about dealing with things as they come to me, so it generally takes a lot to knock me above about a 6 on the stress scale.
A 0 would be the first day of maybe three days of knowing I have absolutely no obligations—nothing currently on my plate, and several days ahead of me that I know I will be in the same mindset—and the freedom to spend my time doing what I want with the people I want to be with. It would also involve knowing I have some structure and obligations to look forward to, so I don’t have to deal with the stress that comes with having nothing to work for and no prospects.
A 5 would be the third day of maybe five days of semi-closely-packed scheduling obligations, interspersed with time set aside to work on preparations for those obligations. I’ve already successfully gotten through two days of hard work, and I have several more to go, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and I feel prepared to tackle what’s coming.
A 10 (mind, I’m not sure I can recall a time when I’ve been at a 10) would be the third hour of maybe several weeks of overscheduled, ambiguous obligations, without enough time between obligations to be prepared for the next. I’ve started full-speed-ahead, but it’s only been three hours, and I’m already beat, and I don’t know how I’m going to get through the next few weeks, or even what I’ll be doing, even though I know there’s a ton going on. In fact, even thinking about the 10 is making me think more stressfully about what I do actually have going on at this moment in time. So I will take a step back.
Right now, I have a clearly delineated list of things that need to be done before tomorrow, and my classes are getting into their full swing, and I feel prepared to handle whatever they can throw at me. That, and I have a great weekend to look forward to—my eight-month-iversary with that lovely hardware store employee is this Friday, so I’m going to my college town to spend some time with her (so, Cassie, I’ll be in town this weekend : P).
And with that, I’m going to go get things done before tomorrow so I can have a stress-free night and look forward to my weekend.
Hope all is well with you all! Have a very pleasant February-beginning.
Cassie: Post-Its are amazing. They have saved me in many a stressful situation!
My current stress level is perhaps 3.5-4 out of ten. I’m a solidly chill person, and I’m pretty good about dealing with things as they come to me, so it generally takes a lot to knock me above about a 6 on the stress scale.
A 0 would be the first day of maybe three days of knowing I have absolutely no obligations—nothing currently on my plate, and several days ahead of me that I know I will be in the same mindset—and the freedom to spend my time doing what I want with the people I want to be with. It would also involve knowing I have some structure and obligations to look forward to, so I don’t have to deal with the stress that comes with having nothing to work for and no prospects.
A 5 would be the third day of maybe five days of semi-closely-packed scheduling obligations, interspersed with time set aside to work on preparations for those obligations. I’ve already successfully gotten through two days of hard work, and I have several more to go, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and I feel prepared to tackle what’s coming.
A 10 (mind, I’m not sure I can recall a time when I’ve been at a 10) would be the third hour of maybe several weeks of overscheduled, ambiguous obligations, without enough time between obligations to be prepared for the next. I’ve started full-speed-ahead, but it’s only been three hours, and I’m already beat, and I don’t know how I’m going to get through the next few weeks, or even what I’ll be doing, even though I know there’s a ton going on. In fact, even thinking about the 10 is making me think more stressfully about what I do actually have going on at this moment in time. So I will take a step back.
Right now, I have a clearly delineated list of things that need to be done before tomorrow, and my classes are getting into their full swing, and I feel prepared to handle whatever they can throw at me. That, and I have a great weekend to look forward to—my eight-month-iversary with that lovely hardware store employee is this Friday, so I’m going to my college town to spend some time with her (so, Cassie, I’ll be in town this weekend : P).
And with that, I’m going to go get things done before tomorrow so I can have a stress-free night and look forward to my weekend.
Hope all is well with you all! Have a very pleasant February-beginning.
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