As part of my program, the professors fill out an assessment about us. The Personal Qualities Assessment, henceforth known as the PQA. The PQA has 15 (I think) categories on a 5 point Likert scale (1= not at all, 5=a lot). All the categories are skills/traits that a good counselor should have: empathy, organizational skills, sense of humor, confidence and a whole bunch of others. Each professor fills on out for us and they average the scores. They also get to comment if they feel it's necessary. If any category is either 3 or less OR less than 3 (I forget which one it is), you need to come up with a remediation plan to show improvement. If there are 3 or more categories with 3 or less you could be asked to leave the program. They have been done for a week and I have been anxiously awaiting an email from my advisor to set up a meeting time to discuss my PQA. I honestly don't think I will be asked to leave and I'm sure I'll be fine but it's soooooo nerve wracking.
I think that's the worst part; even though I have a GPA of 3.9 and I have continued to excellent grades this semester, I can still be deemed unqualified or unfit to be a counselor and they won't place me for my internship. EEK! It may seem completely unfair but the program, by law, is required to "gate keep" the field and make sure that we are ready and will do no harm. So it sucks but I get it.
So my meeting is Thursday. My advisor is awesome and is ending class early on Thursday to meet with us.
I guess a bonus in all this is that I have a presentation on Thursday for a different class so I am focusing on that and not my PQA meeting. So if you have any questions on Disaster Mental Health, I'm the girl to ask.
I think you may remember this post about my spring break. And you may also want to read this one too.
Last weekend Jer was in from Boston to see her folks, so my friends came in to Rochester to go out for dinner and drinks. We were talking about this and that, I mentioned that I had thought about going to NYC for a weekend during Spring Break. Awesomely Inappropriate was instantly questioning how serious I was.
Long story short, AI and I are going to NYC on Friday!! And it turns out that Jer will be there Saturday night because Mike is turning 30.
St Patrick's Day is on Saturday this year! St. Patrick's is by far my favorite holiday. I love that it can be an adult holiday while equally being a child's holiday. Leprechauns? Totally for kids. Drinking all day? Totally for adults. Every year I taught preschool, Lucky the Leprechaun came and played shenanigans on us and left us little treats. Last year he left the boys' tattoos and pins and gold coins. He even turned the potty water green!!! (helpful hint: put it in the back tank so it's clear until it gets flushed...super magic!).
I'm not sure about the cities y'all live in, but Rochester has a St. Patrick's Day Parade. It's usually the Saturday before St. Patty's day, but this year, oh boy, it's **on** St. Patty's Day!!
I have been doing Parade Day (as me and my friends call it) for several years. We usually start drinking at roughly 11ish and sometime stumble wander down to the parade route and "watch" the parade. Then we sometimes go to the bars, which I have been slowly losing interest in. We have to wait in line to get in and then we have to wait in line a ridiculously long time to wait for the bathroom. We usually end up spending most of the time in some sort of line. I would rather just hang out at someone's house longer and play games and drink and eat then fight a crowd at the bar. I guess it's a sign I'm getting old maturing.
This year because it's on a Saturday there has been serious change in strategy. I want to actually make it out at night and not be home by 6. So I think this year we are hanging out a bit, watching the parade and then going back to my friends' place to drink and eat more then walking to some bars later in the day.
I'm really excited about it!! And in honor of St. Patty's Day, starting March 1st, I'm going to post a pic/story everyday days I actually post. You may not care at all, but I get really excited about Parade Day and this only fuels my fire. So buckle up.
So Dollop won Cupcake Wars last night!!! I didn't get to watch it because A) I'm dog sitting and they already had two things recording at 8 and then B) I forgot to watch it live at 8. But I think it will be on Hulu next week.
They have already sold out of cupcakes today and it's only 3. So excited for them.
Wanted to share the news; Dollop is going to be on Cupcake Wars on Jan 19. Dollop is a local cupcake bar that's near Master of Disaster's school. They have super yummy flavors, but we don't go that often only because I don't want to unload three kids just to get cupcakes.
I can't decide if it's a good think or a bad thing that they don't have a drive-thru.
I have spent a lot of Valentine's days "alone." I like to put alone in quotes because I have never feel lonely or bad about it. I honestly feel more alone and have a harder time being single on NYE.
This year, I had class on Valentine's Day. I made some yummy treats to bring in and someone else made a cake. A couple of years ago when V-day was on a weekend, I pimped myself out as a babysitter. They wanted me for overnight so it was quite lucrative. I spent my Valentine's Day with not one but two Valentines, playing Lego Batman on the Wii and eating pizza. And I got paid very, very nicely.
So I hope everyone had a nice day yesterday whether it was with someone you love, with your friends, with your family or even alone.
Not sure about you, but we've had a pretty mild winter so far. The temp fluctuates weekly but it really hasn't snowed and it has been in the 40s at least one day a week. I hate cold weather and I don't ski, so I am perfectly okay with it.
Today however, it's freezing and it snowed. All. Day. Long. I'm going out to dinner with some friends tonight and I bought a new shirt I wanted to wear. It's an open/loose knit sweater with short dolman sleeves. Alas, there's Mother Nature trying to ruin my fun. I hate when I have to pick an outfit based on the weather.
And tomorrow I'm going on a "Learning Excursion" for my diversity class. I'm going to a Russian Orthodox Church. I have no idea what to wear; I figured I would be safe in a dress with tights and boots. It will dressy enough if I'm suppose to be dressy, but casual enough it's not a dressy church. But if it stays this cold I'm going to freeze.
This is why I normally refuse to leave my house when it's cold.
Do you remember when I first went back to school and I mentioned that I was going to try to be more open and honest here, so I could get use to doing it in school? Have you noticed that I haven't really done much of that?
One of my classes this semester is on group theories and group counseling. As part of this class I have to get to be part of an actual group. They like to call it "Group Activity." There are eight of us and the facilitator (who is not one of our professors). Basically, think of it as group therapy sessions. I want to talk about tonight's session but first I want to dig a little.
Throughout this program I have noticed how little I expression emotionally. I mean I have feelings but I am not one to verbally express them. I'm usually all up in my head. I over think things. My feelings are my personal property and you are not allowed to know what's going on. In this group, my goal is to start to verbalize my feelings. Counseling is kinda, sorta all about feelings and emotions.
And I've spent the past several weeks (in my head) trying to sort out why I don't like to share. The only thing I have come up with is that it's easier not. I hate when I say something that can be perceived as negative and the person jumps up to reassure me I'm wrong. I talked about this in another post, but I hate that. Just let me think what I want. I don't always want a cheerleader. I don't want to be told I'm wrong. I want to be allowed to feel what I feel and I want to know you are hearing me. This is a big part of counseling too. When it's all said and done it's just easier to not share my feelings. I think part of it is that it's easier that way to not get hurt.
Another thing I need to work on is to stop thinking that my feelings are some how not as significant as yours. If something upsets me, then it's not insignificant or shallow. Last semester we had to practice counseling sessions with a classmate and that's what she told me several times. And she's absolutely right. But it's hard to express my feelings about things that, in the grand scheme of things, seem unimportant. For example, I am perpetually single. I've dated guys. I've gone on first dates. I've gone on blind dates (only once). I've done online dating (that's not for me). But nothing ever really lasts. Don't know why. I try to have a positive view on it. And most times I do. But sometimes I don't. And I feel bad saying something about because I know that some people don't have enough food to eat or a safe place to sleep. Somewhere out there someone is being abused; and I'm complaining that I'm always single?? See what I mean; it's easy to make it seem insignificant. And also the first thing that someone usually says when I mention being single? I shouldn't worry, that I'll meet the right person someday, that when the time is right I'll meet someone. I know all this and I don't need you to tell me.
All of that nonsense just to let you, Awesome Reader, that I do not want you to try to make me feel better. I want you to just listen read and maybe, if you want, commiserate with me. And I totally mean this, and not in the I'm-a-girl-so-I'm-saying-one-thing-and-I-want-you-to-do-another way. I really mean it.
So back to tonight's group (wow that was a long and unexpected digression): What if I'm not a good counselor? What if I can't do this? What if I don't like doing this? What if I get in the field and realize I suck? Why do I feel like I'm not learning anything? What if I'm too cognitive and not affective enough (FYI in psych affect means emotion)? What if I'm wasting two years of my life and tens of thousands of dollars to get certified in something that I just don't do well? What if I like psychology but not counseling? Did I pick the right program?
These are all things that I brought up tonight in my group. And it was nice to hear that one of my classmates feels the exact same way. It's nice to know I'm no alone.
To end this on a happy-ish note, I cannot get enough of this cover!
Ok so we all know I signed up for the Warrior Dash because, clearly, I'm insane. And I have a goal in mind; I want to train for 5 miles even though the race is only a 5K. I'm hoping the extra endurance will make the "obstacles" feel like nuthin'. And once it gets nicer out I want to start running outside. I was really good about running for 2ish weeks. Then I would either forget my workout stuff at home or something would be going on at work that would make running difficult (darn those kids! Always so needy). So I stopped running for about two weeks. I *need* to start again! I was doing one of the programs on the treadmill that had inclines and speed changes. Today I did a manual run. I did the whole thing (one mile) on incline 4 out of 9 and got up to 6mph. Most of it I ran at 4.5 and I sped up at the end; kinda like a sprint to the finish line. Then I walked about a quarter mile. I figured something is better than nothing, right?
I have no idea how to train for anything. Can someone please fill me in on the best way to train for 5 miles? Should I always do five miles and if I need to walk some, then walk some? Or should I slowly increase my distance? Help me!!!
Also what songs do you like to listen to while you work out?
