Friday, Friday

A few things:

*  I kinda sorta got my practicum placement.  I say "kinda, sorta" because I haven't interviewed with them yet and they haven't (clearly) "hired" me yet.  But I'm pretty sure it's mine if I want it.  Here's the thing:  it's the almost the exact opposite of what ultimately I want to do.  I would like to work with children/teens/young adults that have been survivors of sexual abuse.  Pretty heavy stuff, I know.  But this practice mainly works with offenders and perpetrators.  That's really scary to me.  But the way I've started to look at it is like this:  it's probably good for me to work with this population if I want to work with survivors.  This way I can start to see the offenders as people who are sick instead of evil creatures.

*  I have so  much work due in the next two weeks.  Sorry if I'm not posting as much.

*  OMG Game of Thrones and The Killing start on Saturday!!!  Do any of you watch either one??

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I guess it's okay

Do you remember a long time ago (last summer) in a land far away (DC), I went to visit my cousin and we went to the movies and I confessed that I love Jason Segel?  No?  Well, I love Jason Segel.  

Rumor has it he and Michelle Williams are a couple.  And ya know what?  I totally approve! She is cute, she is a good actress, and she rocks a pixie like no one's business.  So if he has to date someone that wasn't me, I accept that it's her.  

phew!

Last night went really really really well.  We all did a good job facilitating and the group members were awesome in their "roles."  

The feedback was constructive and no one was mean.  

Phew!!

Like a bear, man

One of my friends from school posted this on another classmate's FB wall a few weeks ago (gotta give credit where credit is due, right)

I love it!  It gets me pumped! 

youtube

There's no way to be prepared

Tomorrow I have a group project due; we have to facilitate a group counseling session.  We got to pick our topic and we basically made roles for our classmates to "perform" during the group. We can't however script the whole thing. So there is no way to really prepare for this.  

Our group is a support/psychoeducational group for parents of children with behavioral issues.  Wow that's a mouth full.  So tomorrow is our turn and I'm more nervous then I thought I would be.  I think the worst part about it is that after we're done, the whole class goes around and critiques us.  The.  Whole.  Class.  And let me say, that there are some people in the class that are not that good at giving constructive criticism.  Constructive being the key word.  

We're as prepared as possible, but we can't be prepared for what the group will say and how they will react to us.  And I realize that is how counseling work, but yikes!

Jessica watches another movie

Better make that two movies

Saturday night I watched the Lincoln Lawyer.  It's about a defense lawyer who thinks his client is innocent.  And then he realized everything is not what it seems.  It was a courtroom thriller and it was good.  There were times when I didn't know what was going to happen or how it would all play out. And it has Matthew McConaughey, so at least you have something to look at.  

both via

That's right, I saw the Hunger Games.  I've read the books and loved them.  I'm usually pretty tough on movies based on books.  They *never* do them justice.  Hold on to your hats, folks!  The Hunger Games was awesome.  They did a really good job keeping what they needed to keep and taking out what could be taken out.  They also added some things, but I think it only helped enhance the movie for the silly, silly people who didn't read the book.  So if you liked the books then you should go watch the movie.  

I love the Bloggy World!!

So, here I am, procrastinating again.  I should be finishing up a treatment plan.  But nope, I have something to talk about.  

I just signed up for a Blog Swap!!!  Yay!  So excited!!  I've seen other bloggers get to this and I am so jealous.  Because honestly, who doesn't love to get mail??   

So go check it out and sign up!!!  Maybe I'll get to send something to you!  And let me tell you, I'm planning on sending so awesome stuff. 

 Cuz that's how I roll yo!

UPDATE: Parade Day

Parade Day was so  much fun!!  Unfortunately I didn't take a single picture (gasp!).  But here's a quick run down of the day:

Went to my friends' apartment and ate and started drinking.  We got there at 11:00am.  From there we walked down to where the parade was.  We wanted to use the bathroom  before we went so my friend  (whose apartment it was) and a group of her friends went before us so we were going to meet them.  It was so crowded by the parade that we gave up trying to meet them so we popped into a bar for some drink and to use the bathroom (again! it's going to be a theme).  At this point of the day it's all blending together.  At one point me and Partner and Suska went to a bar to dance.  This was the point Suska stayed with her friends and me and Partner went to meet some of my friends.  Eventually - after much distraction -  we made it the bar where my friends were suppose to be.  I say suppose to be because they were not there.  So Partner and I had some drinks and ate some food and decided to call it a day.   It was like 6:30-ish.  Yay me! I made it all day!!  This was exciting because there was one year when I had to be taken home by 3:00.  It was not my proudest moment.  But oh no, this year I made it. All. Day. Long.  

But we still had to walk to my place.  We stopped for a Shamrock Shake and wandered on home.  Then we "watched" the first episode of Walking Dead.  I say "watched" because Partner may have, perhaps, snoozed through it.  She woke up and then we watched a movie.  She went home and I was in bed by 11pm.  

Needless to say I woke up on Sunday feeling so good. Yay for Parade Day!!

UPDATE:  I did take a picture!  I was uploading some other pictures to my computer and I saw one from Parade Day.  I honestly don't remember taking it, so you know it was a good day.

I didn't ask her if I could post her pic

Friday has come and gone again

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Happy St. Paddy's Day !! Hope everyone has fun & stays safe

It's almost here!!

Parade Day is tomorrow!!!  The predicted weather couldn't be better.  It's suppose to be upper 60s and sunny. That's perfect outside, day drinking weather.  Because I live in Upstate New York the weather is always a concern.  One year is was snowing so bad the parade was postponed for an hour-ish.  Another year was 60s and sunny.  Other years it has rained.  So planning my Parade Day Outfit is tricky.  It's kinda like Halloween; you want to be weather appropriate/practical, but you want to people to see your green.   It's always tough, but luckily I'm a fan of vests (which AI just doesn't get).  

Last year I got crafty and made a can coolie.  The picture is a little dark but I think you can see it well enough.  I made it through all of Parade Day and all of actually St. Patrick's Day.  But I set it down when I paid my tab and left it.  My friend was still there but he didn't get our texts 'til he left.

This year I decided to go big or go home.   That's right.  That's a travel mug!  It only cost $1, so when (not if) I lose it, it'll be ok.  This girl doesn't mess around.  

There was so much more I wanted to write about today but BabyGirl has been BabyDemon this week and I started this post this morning but couldn't actually finish it 'til like 7:30pm.  Darn babies always being so needy!!

The face smashing incident of 2005

A little back story for you:

My first job out of college was in a residential treatment facility.  Basically it was a home for teenage girls.  They had been removed from their homes for whatever reason (parental neglect, their own behavior etc) and they lived where I worked; it was a "therapeutic environment."

As part of our job, we were trained to therapeutically restrain them.  So let me ask you a question:  If you and all your friends knew how to wrestle each other to the ground in a way that would not hurt, what would you do when you all were drinking? If you answered "take each other down" then you and I would be great friends. So we often tried to take someone down who was least expecting it.  And I am the smallest and weakest of my friends so it usually was me.  And I should probably let you know that we often  in public places when this happened.

So, here we are, St Patrick's Day 2005-ish.  My friend and I, for some reason, decided to show a guy (a stranger) how we would/could "take him down."

 Bless my friends who are always camera ready.

If you look closely at the first picture you can clearly see my face hitting the wall behind us (it was my chin and I was actually fine-thanks for asking).  I still maintain that I didn't we were actually going to take him down, I thought we were just showing him how we "would do it."  And my friend always likes to point out that she has perfect form.   

I mean look how close we were to the wall and the dart board, what on Earth were we thinking?  Which is why I will defend myself until the day I die. 

 We weren't really going to take him down, do you hear me!?

Jessica watches another movie

Ok so last night I watched In My Sleep.  I remember seeing the preview for this movie awhile ago but I couldn't remember the name of it.  Then I saw the title streaming on Netflix and I remember that was the one I wanted to watch.  I'm not even sure if that sentence makes any sense; but I hope you get my gist.  

IMDB

It's basically about a guy who sleep walks and does other things while he's sleeping (driving, has sex etc).  He wakes up one morning covered in blood.  The rest of the movie is him trying to figure what has been going on and why he sleep walks.  At one point his doctor tells him he is a parasomniac.  Well, parasomnia is not a sleep disorder but a cluster of disorders (see school is totally making me smart).  But that has nothing to do with the price of tea in China.  

The movie was not bad, but it also was not great.  I didn't see the end coming, but only because it kinda came out of no where.  I only finished it because I was already halfway through and I figured I had made it that far might as well keep on trucking.  It's two hours of my life I can't get back.  But like I said it wasn't a "bad" movie.  

But to make up for it I also watched The Help this weekend and I don't need to tell you it's a great movie.  And if some reason you didn't know that, I have to ask,"Do you live under a rock?"

Where did my break go??

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That's right....

...we suck at life.

Early Friday, AI and I drove down to Irvington, NY and took the train into NYC.  AI loves NYC.  She goes down several times a year and is awesome at planning a NYC trip.

We got into Manhattan about 7ish and checked into our hotel.  We freshened up and got ready and decided to find somewhere to eat.  We didn't make reservations because A) we wanted to be wild and carefree and just see where the night takes us and B) AI wasn't really sure how adventurous I am with my food.  So I'll reiterate, we did not make plans.  Can you see where this might take us?  The guy at the front desk said we should head down to Hell's Kitchen because there was tons of places to eat.  So off we go.

We wander around, heading through Times Square (because I'm a big dork and have never seen it) and to Hell's Kitchen.  We stop to look at the menus of a few places and decide to go into a tapas restaurant.

I order a Sangria and I thought the waiter said "a glass?" turns out he said "a half?" and brought me half pitcher to drink.  This should have been the second indication of how the night would go (the first being the fact that we were "winging it").

We ordered some sort of "shrimp on steroids" (AI's words), lamb cops, potatoes with some delicious sauce, baby squid (not calamari) and mussels in some spice sauce.  The shrimp were good but still had some of the "shell" on it so I had to do some work for my food.  I do not like having to work for my food.  The squid tasted like nothing and it was chewy but not a good chewy.  AI said it was "snappy," she's the foodie not me. The potatoes were awesome!!  AI put a mussel in her mouth and spit it out saying it was bad.  I tried one and it tasted like the sauce but I didn't dare eat anymore, just in case.  Lamb chops were good.  So basically we were not all that impressed and we were still hungry since tapas are small.  

We left and went to get a beer at a bar down the street.  We drank it and decided that we are old responsible so we were going to head to the hotel. We wanted to get a good night sleep and not be hungover for Saturday which was our friend's 30th birthday.  And as AI said, Saturday was going to be a sh*t show.  

It had been raining most of the night and was drizzling when we left the bar.  Nothing too bad.  So home we walk and we proceed to get splashed by a puddle a cab drove through.  We weren't even on the edge of the curb!  It was like a freakin' movie.  And when I say "we" got splashed by a puddle, I really mean "AI" got splashed.  So that was a sign that we most definitely needed to go home.  

yep,that sums up the night

We got a beer from the hotel that we didn't drink and went to bed.  

In the morning when I woke up, AI asked how I was feeling.  And I felt fine much to her dismay because she had been up since 5am getting sick in the bathroom.  We still don't know what was wrong; I ate everything she did and drank way more since I had half a pitcher of Sangria that she refused to help me with.  

I'm think it's because I rock and she sucks.  

St. Patty's Post #1

I tend to get a little rambunctious when I've been day drinking and especially on Parade Day.

This is from last year.  This is the kind of crap I do.  I don't know him but I did stop to hand him an extra St. Patrick's Day button that I had.   I asked for a picture and he's the one that put his hat on me.  I would like you to remember that I'm probably pretty drunk in this picture.  

This is why I love Parade Day.

there's a height requirement ya know

It was a whirlwind weekend in NYC.  I going to post out of order only because this is my favorite picture of the weekend.  

This is me and Awesomely Inappropriate being us. She is about 5 foot nothing and needed a boost.  What does she need a boast for? you may be asking.  Well let me tell you.  For lunch on Saturday we went to eat at  a restaurant, The Smith, where my friend Mike knows the manager.  The story of lunch will be in another post.  So anyhoo.....

The walls downstairs in the bathroom area were wood.  And there were a lot of knots and knot holes in the walls.  Well Mike told AI that she should look in the big one when she went down there.  She came upstairs and told us she was too short to see in.  We all went downstairs to look in. I'm purposely not telling you what was in there until the end.  So we all looked in and had a jolly ol' time while AI attempted to peak in the hole. She looked at me and told me to lift her up to see.  So I did.  

Inside the knot hole was a peep hole like in a front door.  It allowed  us to see a 1920s-ish, burlesque style porn that ran on loop in the back office.  You would never be able to tell it was there unless you knew about it.  It was kinda cool. 

So that's the picture of me lifting AI up so she can watch the porn like all the grown ups.  

Friday of Spring Break!!!!!

So normally I post a serious-ish quote on Fridays.  Well, not today darn it! My presentation was awesome!  Yay!  I passed my PQA.  YAY!!!    I'm going to NYC in about 3 hours!!!  Woot woot!

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Nest week will be full of NYC stories and pics!  How are excited are you??!!