Jam Packed Month

First . . .

Happy Birthday Dad!!!
I hope you have a joyous one!

Secondly, I figure since people don't know what my schedule normally is . . . here it is.



Those are the classes listed . . . which means most likely I'll be working on Monday, Friday, and Saturday since I can't most other days of the week. Not fun, but it is only that jam packed for one month. The next one will be easier . . . so if I don't see, talk to, or have time to think about anyone in June . . . my apologies. So I'll just say ahead of time . . . Happy Birthday, Happy Flag Day, Happy Father's Day, and Happy Summer Solstice!

Cheese, Glorious Cheese

If I didn't already know there was a God, this would have confirmed it to me today. To preface, last night while at work it was a slow evening. So toward the end I was sitting outside of the dining room watching the news. Suddenly I saw a story about the Annual Seattle Cheese Festival. My jaw almost dropped to the floor. It was free and you could sample over 200 cheeses. Now admittedly, I've never been there but this sounded pretty close to heaven. So a friend and I went there today and I had loads and LOADS of cheese. Lets just say I think I was as close to heaven as I could get thus far. Who would have known? So much cheese, no fee. I love it!

Elderly Appreciation

So at my job there is a gentleman about the age of 80 who I have had the privilege of working with (no, no sarcasm). He is so kind and gentle. Honestly, I've had a problem working with him previously because he is frequently incontinent and I have difficulties cleaning him up. Well, tonight was slower and there were no problems or arguments so I was spending the end of the night outside of the dining room watching TV. I hear this elderly gentleman shout 'help' randomly for a few minutes with people going in and out. Finally at one point I decide to go in and visit him. I sit in his wheelchair beside his bed and ask him how he is. "Oh, not too bad I'd say." He responds. So for nearly 30 minutes I sat there and talked with him. We talked about his family, when he was a child going to school with his siblings, his farm, and his 1929 Ford with a crank in the front to make it go. I did not want to stop talking to him, but I had to go home.

It was a good experience. Honestly, I'm a little less afraid of the elderly now.

A Touch of Reality

Last night I had a dream that I was a client at my job. I was doing well during my stay. However I was approached by a staff member who insisted that I needed to take an ativan. I told them I was fine and I didn't need to take it, however the more I resisted the more he insisted. I kept getting more and more frustrated because he wouldn't listen to me or leave me alone. Finally I relented and took the stupid drug just so he would stop harassing me.

When I woke up I remembered the dream. The frustration I felt because no matter what I said, he wouldn't listen to me. I wonder if that's how some of the clients feel.

Oh . . . and Happy Mother's Day.

What Separates Us?

What happens when you put 6 people in a 6x12 area and tell them all to work on different things at once? Chaos. Pure and utter chaos. As such, this one of the six people has decided to separate himself to an office much further away so they can work, whine, scream, and run without me blocking their way. Fortunately down here a window is open, there is a nice breeze, and the sun is still out showing its rays in all its glory.

Yes, I am at work. Now that I'm away from the stress, I am happy and content. I think I'll stay down in this solitary office a bit longer.

I do have one question though. If client's are said to be angry and hostile (according to every other staff member), why are they not angry and hostile around me? I'm not saying I want them to be that way, but I wonder how the staff is interpreting the signals of the clients.

Another point I would like to ask is why are the simplest behaviors horribly pathologized in those people that are mentally ill. As a non-mentally ill person (although my ex-coworkers may disagree) I have my moods of happiness, sadness, random anger and frustration. If suddenly I have a mental illness, these simple moods are interpreted as something much more significant. Why must everything be pathologized? Does it make it easier for the 'mentally stable' people to categorize and lock away the 'mentally unstable'? I mean, some of my current coworkers SHOULD be clients instead of staff. But because of that minor distinction, all of their quirks are ignored. Can somebody do something about that?

the Extravaganza Begins

Well, as (many of) you (may) know today is my birthday. Since very few of you are living up here, I figured I'd do a photo journal for the day to let you know how everything went.

So, I had such great plans for today.



Alas I didn't fall asleep until 1:00AM. I did sleep but was awakened by this gorgeous little female voice at 6:09 AM (PDT) who said, "Good Morning Sunshine." Probably the most hated phrase in the history of the human language aside from, "We have to talk." If she didn't sound so cute, I might have yelled something at her. We spoke momentarily, and I went back to bed.



After unsuccessfully lying in bed for a while (well, I was lying there well but at that point sleep had eluded me), I decided to get up. I called my Mom at 8:08AM for no apparent reason and we spoke for a bit.



Afterwards I checked my e-mail and heard from a few friends and got a few more phone calls. I figured sooner or later I ought to get dressed, so I showered. I didn't do my hair, how does it look?



Then I sat at my computer trying to do homework until around 12:00 when I decided to go investigate a mini forest nearby where I live. This is what I found.










So after a good walk I came back home.



I checked on Chewie,



but decided not to bother him so I made myself a breakfast I haven't made in a long time. Pancakes. Not just any pancakes, but those that are so thick that when you pour syrup into them . . . the syrup disappears almost instantly.



Fortunately by that time Chewie was up and outside.



And I got to pull out a hole in my pancakes which I consider the 'syrup holder' to dunk the rest of them in.



Ah it was good. Then off back to my computer to finish an assigment that is due tomorrow. Four hours later, I finished and decided to reward myself by watching a movie.



Then I did some laundry . . . (look at the water, isn't that cool?)



Then my friend Melissa came over and we did homework together . . .




I got a phone call from my father . . . and I ate ice cream.



Now there are 10 minutes to go and the day is over. Thanks everyone for participating, it was a glorious day.

Going through the Motions

So on April 27th when I got to work . . . for the first time I didn't need to pull out my clients charts to look at their history and see what I needed to do. I mention this because normally I'm lost and confused and I don't know how to help my clients. This time, I remembered some of them and (unfortunately) most of them needed the same thing. I guess, in short, you could say that I'm getting used to my job. I'm not as worried or concerned as I once was and I'm falling into the correct habit. Isn't it nice?

Also on a side note, in class today we will be discussing ethical genetics. In other words, if you as an individual have a disease that may be passed down to your children, will this change your mind as to whether or not you want to have children? Will you have kids anyway? If you do, when will you tell them they may have this life altering disease or physical disability? It will be quite an interesting discussion, I must say.