Thursday was my first day of work at the Big Hospital. It was a pretty standard but uneventful day and I loved it. The nurses on our floor are funny anf competent and likeable, my supervisor is sweet and I really like her. If that were my real job (and not just my practicum) I would be really happy.
I get there a little before 9:30 and it's right on the light-rail system, so I can take the train. Then meet with the nurse who lets us know which patients to see and why they were referred to us. We make the rounds and do assesments, see who needs further referrrals or counseling, povide that and then write it all up in their charts. Then the rest of the day is taken up by working to get donations and putting together publicity packets and other little projects to help people out. It's really enjoyable.
So far, this semester is definitely good enough to make up for how aweful last semester was.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Thursday, January 17, 2008
A New Semester
As of a month ago i was dreading the start of this semester - heck, as of yesterday I was dreading the start of this semester. I went to two of the six classes I am signed up for yesterday (the only two that will meet this week), and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed them.
The first is a course on social work in health care - the professor seems lovely and recently served on the Big Hospital's ethics board, which just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. A pet goal of mine is to be on an ethics board at a hospital; in my fantasy-world this would be my entire job and I'd work at one of the TV hospitals where everything is dramatic and exciting and I get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The second course is on feminist theory and practice in social work. I was really apprehensive about this one at first, but I think it will be ok. Two Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies professors from the university are in this class - one of them freaks the professor out a bit because she is older and the professor obviously has a lot of respect for her. The professor is a Gloria Steinem style lesbian academic feminist - she seems very nice and just a little fake, but I think I can deal with that. My only problem is that it will be very hard for me to not talk the entire time. This is a subject that I know a lot about and have very strong opinions on and that I believe my opinions are... more radical (not Radical mind you but rather using the word with its dictionary definition) than the teachers and most people I would think.
Next week I will begin my job at Big Hospital and have my first medical ethics class, which I am really looking forward to. The week after next, I will have my first seminar course which is a piggy-back onto the job at Big Hospital. My last course is a weekend course which will meet three long weekends sprinkled across the semester - it will be my last intro course and hopefully I will enjoy it, I hear the professor is amazing.
The first is a course on social work in health care - the professor seems lovely and recently served on the Big Hospital's ethics board, which just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. A pet goal of mine is to be on an ethics board at a hospital; in my fantasy-world this would be my entire job and I'd work at one of the TV hospitals where everything is dramatic and exciting and I get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The second course is on feminist theory and practice in social work. I was really apprehensive about this one at first, but I think it will be ok. Two Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies professors from the university are in this class - one of them freaks the professor out a bit because she is older and the professor obviously has a lot of respect for her. The professor is a Gloria Steinem style lesbian academic feminist - she seems very nice and just a little fake, but I think I can deal with that. My only problem is that it will be very hard for me to not talk the entire time. This is a subject that I know a lot about and have very strong opinions on and that I believe my opinions are... more radical (not Radical mind you but rather using the word with its dictionary definition) than the teachers and most people I would think.
Next week I will begin my job at Big Hospital and have my first medical ethics class, which I am really looking forward to. The week after next, I will have my first seminar course which is a piggy-back onto the job at Big Hospital. My last course is a weekend course which will meet three long weekends sprinkled across the semester - it will be my last intro course and hopefully I will enjoy it, I hear the professor is amazing.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
A New Year
This is the beginning of my first calendar year as a married woman, and my first calendar year of being in graduate school (should be my only calendar year in graduate school too!). So far it has been off to a lazy start with lots of hanging out with friends, going to the gym and catching up on webcomics, etc.
Right now I am officially starting to get ready for the upcomming semester. First, I am updating my google calendar with all of my classes and meetings, then I need to figure out which books I need to buy and when. Cash flow might be an issue this month (thank you to the gas company's clerical error and my boss for forgetting to get my time sheet in for me while I was out of the office for the holidays), so books will be more of a pain in the butt than usual. Last semester I spent 600 dollars on books, all but one of those books was a complete waste of money, so hopefully I can sell them off and get something back for them.
At the moment I am trying to decide if Opera, as a browser, is worth it and trying to figure out why Google is a jerk. You would think that a company devoted to open source would not go out of its way to make Opera useless on its site, but I guess that even a company that claims to not be evil can be a money grubbing jerk too. Oh well. I like google, I am often so impressed by google, and I sometimes forget that corporations are still corporations. Sad but true.
Right now I am officially starting to get ready for the upcomming semester. First, I am updating my google calendar with all of my classes and meetings, then I need to figure out which books I need to buy and when. Cash flow might be an issue this month (thank you to the gas company's clerical error and my boss for forgetting to get my time sheet in for me while I was out of the office for the holidays), so books will be more of a pain in the butt than usual. Last semester I spent 600 dollars on books, all but one of those books was a complete waste of money, so hopefully I can sell them off and get something back for them.
At the moment I am trying to decide if Opera, as a browser, is worth it and trying to figure out why Google is a jerk. You would think that a company devoted to open source would not go out of its way to make Opera useless on its site, but I guess that even a company that claims to not be evil can be a money grubbing jerk too. Oh well. I like google, I am often so impressed by google, and I sometimes forget that corporations are still corporations. Sad but true.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Holiday Season
As I've mentioned before, I am a secular-ish Jew married to an atheist recovering from Lutheranism. Due to our religious and familial backgrounds, we get to have an interesting December (December's are also made more interesting by finals at school, but in a less fun way).
Our December holiday season began with Hanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. Hanukah is not a 'holy day' unlike the other widely celebrated Jewish holidays throughout the year. What's also neat about it is that my father's family first heard about it in the early 1950's when they immigrated out of Iran. Since my parent's are divorced, we get two family Hanukah celebrations. The first with my mother's family is referred to as the "Present Orgy," and involves latkas (potato pancakes) and sufganiot (donuts, often jelly filled). This year, my three year old cousin got a mound of toys and a *pink toothbrush,* guess which gift she liked best, named, and carried around all night.
All my life our Hanukah celebration with my dad has been a subdued affair, in the Israeli tradition he gives us money and we often get a pizza delivered and play dreidel and just hang out. This year was different. My dad's new girlfriend had kids young and is now a young grandmother to a whole brood. This year we trekked out to her home in Chesterworld for Hanukah with her, her kids and her grandkids. It was fun, and more reminiscent of Hanukah with my grandma, which made me feel very, very old. (Best part, one of her daughters is married to a man who went to high school with *A HAD A CRUSH ON* my mom... that makes my dad feel old).
The next holiday celebration was last night as we sat up with my mom and her husband to welcome the sun on the Solstice. A pair of tickets to Wicked magically appeared in our laps so we saw that (it was great!) and then went over to see my mom. We arrived around 11:30, made hot coco and adjourned to the living room where we sat and ate popcorn covered in chocolate/sugar/nuts/sugar/etc and drank coco and chatted. It was lovely. This is the first year we have gone out of our way to celebrate the winter Solstice with my mom and step-dad, but then again, this is the first year that I have had a step-dad, so I guess it works out.
In a few days we will brave the wilds of Illinois and make the long journey to the Frozen North to celebrate Christmas. We will spend Christmas eve with a dear friend in the process of conversion to Judaism, at which point I believe she will be introduced to the age old Jewish tradition of eating Chinese food on Christmas. Then in the morning we will drive out to the middle of nowhere to see my in-laws after they get home from church. We will eat ham (yuck!) and then open presents and stay the night.
December holidays end with new years eve, which this year we believe we will celebrate with at a friend's potluck. The new year begins with a luncheon at my uncle-in-laws house back in the Frozen North (how we will get to both event's we are still working on, it will most likely involve waking up at 8 am January 1st and driving up).
With all of this, you would think we were Pastafarians! Happy holidays!
Our December holiday season began with Hanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. Hanukah is not a 'holy day' unlike the other widely celebrated Jewish holidays throughout the year. What's also neat about it is that my father's family first heard about it in the early 1950's when they immigrated out of Iran. Since my parent's are divorced, we get two family Hanukah celebrations. The first with my mother's family is referred to as the "Present Orgy," and involves latkas (potato pancakes) and sufganiot (donuts, often jelly filled). This year, my three year old cousin got a mound of toys and a *pink toothbrush,* guess which gift she liked best, named, and carried around all night.
All my life our Hanukah celebration with my dad has been a subdued affair, in the Israeli tradition he gives us money and we often get a pizza delivered and play dreidel and just hang out. This year was different. My dad's new girlfriend had kids young and is now a young grandmother to a whole brood. This year we trekked out to her home in Chesterworld for Hanukah with her, her kids and her grandkids. It was fun, and more reminiscent of Hanukah with my grandma, which made me feel very, very old. (Best part, one of her daughters is married to a man who went to high school with *A HAD A CRUSH ON* my mom... that makes my dad feel old).
The next holiday celebration was last night as we sat up with my mom and her husband to welcome the sun on the Solstice. A pair of tickets to Wicked magically appeared in our laps so we saw that (it was great!) and then went over to see my mom. We arrived around 11:30, made hot coco and adjourned to the living room where we sat and ate popcorn covered in chocolate/sugar/nuts/sugar/etc and drank coco and chatted. It was lovely. This is the first year we have gone out of our way to celebrate the winter Solstice with my mom and step-dad, but then again, this is the first year that I have had a step-dad, so I guess it works out.
In a few days we will brave the wilds of Illinois and make the long journey to the Frozen North to celebrate Christmas. We will spend Christmas eve with a dear friend in the process of conversion to Judaism, at which point I believe she will be introduced to the age old Jewish tradition of eating Chinese food on Christmas. Then in the morning we will drive out to the middle of nowhere to see my in-laws after they get home from church. We will eat ham (yuck!) and then open presents and stay the night.
December holidays end with new years eve, which this year we believe we will celebrate with at a friend's potluck. The new year begins with a luncheon at my uncle-in-laws house back in the Frozen North (how we will get to both event's we are still working on, it will most likely involve waking up at 8 am January 1st and driving up).
With all of this, you would think we were Pastafarians! Happy holidays!
Thursday, December 13, 2007
On Why You Need Your Ears
Ears are so amazing, and I admit, I have taken mine for granted. After years of not giving my ears the love and respect they deserved, going so far as to get a stupid piercing at a mall when I was 13 that I have since let close-up, my ears have decided to take a hiatus from usefulness.
While in the frozen nothern wastelands, visiting Boybee's parents, I caught a nasty little virus. I tried to sleep it off and drink lots of fluids, but alas, healthy is not the word I would use to describe a graduate student's schedule during finals. After spending a week voiceless, a few days ago I could speak again, but strangely, I can't hear. I also have a hacking cough, but that isn't too strange.
Right now, I can hear my breath going through my nose and down into my lungs, but I can't hear what people say when they speak to me, especially on my right side.
Oh, ears, I promise if you come back to functionality, I'll treat you right! I'll clean you regularly with cutips and try not to get over-excited and poke too far back. I'll even get you pierced in a new and nice way, maybe even to cover up that old scar. You would like that, right? Please ears, if you're reading this, I miss you.
While in the frozen nothern wastelands, visiting Boybee's parents, I caught a nasty little virus. I tried to sleep it off and drink lots of fluids, but alas, healthy is not the word I would use to describe a graduate student's schedule during finals. After spending a week voiceless, a few days ago I could speak again, but strangely, I can't hear. I also have a hacking cough, but that isn't too strange.
Right now, I can hear my breath going through my nose and down into my lungs, but I can't hear what people say when they speak to me, especially on my right side.
Oh, ears, I promise if you come back to functionality, I'll treat you right! I'll clean you regularly with cutips and try not to get over-excited and poke too far back. I'll even get you pierced in a new and nice way, maybe even to cover up that old scar. You would like that, right? Please ears, if you're reading this, I miss you.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Santa, the Boogey Man, and the Tooth Fairy
Fictional characters are great. I love mythic heroes and villains, stories and fairytales give you a sense of wonder and make for excellent social commentary. That being said, I'm not sure how down I am with mythic characters that we encourage and trick children into believing they exist. I am begining to see a fine, but important line in all of this though- it's all about parental intent.
I find the tooth fairy to be innocuous. In the beginning it helps a child deal with what is rather frightening and strange - your bones are falling out of your mouth, that is enough to scar the crap out of anyone, especially a little kid. At six, finding a quarter under your pillow is pretty much the coolest thing ever. After a few teeth, you figure it out and maybe start negotiating a better exchange rate with Mom and Dad, it's a game. By making the event special and by reinforcing the 'growing-up' aspects of tooth loss and the responsibility of money, parents can alleviates fears and instill budding capitalist individuality that is in many ways required for success in middle-class America.
I guess Santa Claus and the Boogey Man started out as ways of bribing and scaring children into good behavior. The boogey man has largely fallen out of favor - not worth the psych bills for PTSD in later life. But Santa has thrived.
I was never taught to believe in Santa Claus. We received seven small and useful gifts from my parents, one each night of Hanukah, and then at the big family party (nicknamed the Family Present Orgy) we would get one bigger present. Small presents were usually socks and underwear, sometimes books, during my tween years I was sure to get at least one set of burt's bees chapsticks. Big presents were often less practical, a new CD player or jewelry (in Persian culture, a man's masculinity is partially wrapped up in the ornamentation of his daughters, mentally and physically, my getting a degree and having a good set of pearls is my dad's version of owning a motorcycle). Consumerism is rampant, but at least in our family, we accepted it at face-value.
Santa Claus seems to have been co-opted by a generation of children whose parents bought them stuff to show them love or neglected to buy them stuff or show them love, who want to coddle their children and relive their childhoods. Worse, Santa has been honed by generations of marketing wizzes to represent everything crass and commercial about the winter holidays. Boybee's first step in realizing that Jesus was a fairytale was realizing that Santa was a fairytale - not exactly his parent's intent. There is a joy in having presents 'miraculously' appear over night, but that's about all the magic there is in it. I can't count on all of my appendages the number of stupid Santa movies that come out every single year, and come on, kids aren't that dumb. I see Santa as being a problem, while being fine with the Tooth Fairy mainly because, when a kids figures out that the Tooth Fairy isn't real it can stay playful and fun and the parents can be in on the game, when a kid finds out that Santa isn't real it seems so traumatic with parents refusing to admit the truth... it's all creepy from an outsiders perspective. Both represent and encourage aspects of Capitalism, both require parents to sneak around and pretend that their actions are really those of a a ficgtious super-natural character, but the difference between the embracing a loss that signals growth (and a good venue to encourage savings) and the whole hearted embrace of consumption and encouraging a sense of entitlement seem very different to me.
I find the tooth fairy to be innocuous. In the beginning it helps a child deal with what is rather frightening and strange - your bones are falling out of your mouth, that is enough to scar the crap out of anyone, especially a little kid. At six, finding a quarter under your pillow is pretty much the coolest thing ever. After a few teeth, you figure it out and maybe start negotiating a better exchange rate with Mom and Dad, it's a game. By making the event special and by reinforcing the 'growing-up' aspects of tooth loss and the responsibility of money, parents can alleviates fears and instill budding capitalist individuality that is in many ways required for success in middle-class America.
I guess Santa Claus and the Boogey Man started out as ways of bribing and scaring children into good behavior. The boogey man has largely fallen out of favor - not worth the psych bills for PTSD in later life. But Santa has thrived.
I was never taught to believe in Santa Claus. We received seven small and useful gifts from my parents, one each night of Hanukah, and then at the big family party (nicknamed the Family Present Orgy) we would get one bigger present. Small presents were usually socks and underwear, sometimes books, during my tween years I was sure to get at least one set of burt's bees chapsticks. Big presents were often less practical, a new CD player or jewelry (in Persian culture, a man's masculinity is partially wrapped up in the ornamentation of his daughters, mentally and physically, my getting a degree and having a good set of pearls is my dad's version of owning a motorcycle). Consumerism is rampant, but at least in our family, we accepted it at face-value.
Santa Claus seems to have been co-opted by a generation of children whose parents bought them stuff to show them love or neglected to buy them stuff or show them love, who want to coddle their children and relive their childhoods. Worse, Santa has been honed by generations of marketing wizzes to represent everything crass and commercial about the winter holidays. Boybee's first step in realizing that Jesus was a fairytale was realizing that Santa was a fairytale - not exactly his parent's intent. There is a joy in having presents 'miraculously' appear over night, but that's about all the magic there is in it. I can't count on all of my appendages the number of stupid Santa movies that come out every single year, and come on, kids aren't that dumb. I see Santa as being a problem, while being fine with the Tooth Fairy mainly because, when a kids figures out that the Tooth Fairy isn't real it can stay playful and fun and the parents can be in on the game, when a kid finds out that Santa isn't real it seems so traumatic with parents refusing to admit the truth... it's all creepy from an outsiders perspective. Both represent and encourage aspects of Capitalism, both require parents to sneak around and pretend that their actions are really those of a a ficgtious super-natural character, but the difference between the embracing a loss that signals growth (and a good venue to encourage savings) and the whole hearted embrace of consumption and encouraging a sense of entitlement seem very different to me.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Dressers are a finite comodity
We ended our trip up north by taking one of the many extra dressers from my mother-in-law's basement. We now have two full size dressers and two half dressers for our cloths, as well as two plastic-rolly drawer thingys from target for fabric (this doesn't even take into account the two closets, the free standing hanger organizer and multiple rubber-made totes...). Hopefully this will be enough for all of our stuff. I don't doubt that we will pitch about half of our things next time we move, but I have a feeling that it'll be a while, and by that time we will have near doubled what we had when we first moved in. Such is the way of life.
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