9.25.2008

Another week down.

It has been a fairly uninteresting week. I've been battling a head cold along with my roomie and it seem like the rest of our cohort. I spent most of Tuesday on our couch watching TV, drinking lots of water, and resting. Fortunately it really helped me feel better yesterday. I feel even better today! Thursday's are always long days, but tonight a bunch of us are going to Puerto Vallarta tonight after class for some Mexican food and MARGARITAS! I'm very excited.

I'm meeting with my professor tomorrow to discuss his experience working at The Cancer Center here in Muncie. I am considering a career working with people diagnosed with terminal illnesses, so we're going to discuss some career options. I'm also excited to hear more about what he does because it's something I feel compelled to do. I know that I don't have to have everything figured out right now, but there is a part of me that is dying to figure out what I want to do with my life and my degrees. I'm slowly starting down that path. More on that after Friday.

This weekend I'm headed home again to work Friday and Saturday night. Saturday morning I'm headed to Atlanta, IN with the fam and and some close friends to hit up a fantastic fall festival. It's been SO long since I've been able to go with them to one of those. Before I was always rowing. So, that should be a great time! Sunday I'm celebrating the twins' 1st birthday. Crazy huh? Can't believe they turned one last weekend. I'm very excited to see them. I got them two little Ball State baseball hats that they can wear for a while. I can't wait to see them on! hehe. Anuty Marla is very proud of her two beautiful nephews. :)

Hope everyone is having a great week!

9.15.2008

The Last Lecture.




My best friend, Lindsay sent me a belated birthday present that truly touched my life and warmed my heart. It was a very appropriate gift seeing as that she has touched my life in so many ways in the 10 years we have been friends. The gift was a book titled The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow. If you haven't heard of Randy Pausch I'll tell you about him and his incredible story. He was a Computer Science professor at Carnegie Mellon who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and eventually given only a few months to live. Well, he entered a program at Carnegie Mello to do a last lecture. He decided to do it before he passed away as a way to share some of his life lessons with his children and people all over the world. So, anyways, I'll post a link to the actual lecture, but the book is incredible. It summarizes his lecture and gives some background on his life and family. Check it out. I can only hope that it touches your life as much as it has touched mine.



http://www.thelastlecture.com/index.htm -- This is a link to the book, the lecture, and about Randy and his family. Check it out!

And I just want to say that I grow more thankful every day for the amazing friends and family that I am blessed with.


9.09.2008

Martian Child

For those of you who have not seen the movie Martian Child, I suggest that you do so. It is a fantastic movie about a little boy who believes he is a martian from Mars. John Cusack stars in it along with his sister and Amanda Peet. It's very moving, and quickly becoming one of my favorite movies. It's just very touching. :)

On other fronts -- not much to report. Things are moving right along. Classes are good. Tomorrow i meet with my professor to set goals for my pre-prac experience and what I want/need to do to be the best counselor I can be. Things are still going great. Here's to another week in grad school!

Oooooh, I learned a great deal more than I knew before about the Paralympics. A very special event that I am actually hoping to write a research paper on for my into to rehab class. More to come on that later...

9.05.2008

2 weeks down!

Week two has officially come to a close. I'm still loving it. I'm meeting more and more people all the time. We're working on expanding our group of pals. It's been super hot this week, but other than that I have no complaints. I made it through our pre-practicum baseline video session. 10 minutes of role playing the therapist while being recorded so that we can discuss and set goals with our professor. Fun times let me tell ya! haha. We were all dreading it, but managed to survive and think that it was not at all as bad as it seemed. I think most of us actually had fun doing it. We'll see when I see my video... haha. Thursday was a long day, but that's to be expected with 2 classes. We all made up for it by hittin the Bee's after class for drinks and food. It was a grand time and we even had 3 new peeps join us!

Well, I'm headed north to work this Friday and Saturday night then back Sunday for our department picnic and loads of reading. :) Good times in Muncie!

P.S. If you read this blog could you please leave me a comment. I'm just curious if anyone actually does. haha.

9.03.2008

First Publication!!

I just got word today that my very first ever publication has been submitted and is now under review by a very prestigious APA journal - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. It is a piece that I was very luck to have my name attached to. I helped collect data and review and theorize and such. So, that's very exciting! Next thing is my thesis to be published. Whoa! Needless to say I'm a very happy camper.. not to mention luck and very grateful for being able to work with such great researchers who have become close friends. The HirtLab rocks!

9.02.2008

First week of grad school and Labor Day

I just want to say that I SURVIVED! haha. I never had any doubt, but my first week of grad school is over with, and I had an absolute blast. I started my 'nanny-ing' job for some good family friends who are professors here at BSU. I pick their two girls up from school, bring them home, help with homework and such till Jonathan and Theresa get home. I got to go to the barn where they keep their horses for the first time last week, which was awesome. I don't have a ton of experience with horses, but I'm excited to learn more about them. Spending time with the girls has been fun, and I think it will be a really great thing to give me a break from school work and such. Children can be so refreshing when you're caught up in a world of overworked and stressed grad students!

So, classes were really great. I really like all of them. I'm taking Intro to Rehab Psych, Psychopathology, Theories and Techniques of Counseling, and Pre-Practicum. I don't know that I have a favorite class, but Thursdays are definitely my favorite day of the week! Having class from 2-9 makes for a long day, but I met some really awesome people who have the same two classes. We've decided to make a weekly study group/hang out between our classes and then we ended up at Applebee's for drinks and some food last week. This Thursday is drinks and then movie night at Justin's. So, it's been a great adventure.

In my pre-prac class (a class designed to get you ready to see clients in Spring semester's practicum class) we started with role playing on the first night of class, which scared us all I think. But, the funny thing is, we all ended up loving it after we broke the ice a little bit. This week we have a 10 minute role playing session that will be recorded and watched with our professor to see where we are all starting out. I'm a wee bit nervous, but I know it'll be a blast.

Labor Day was pretty uneventful. I went home to work at Salamonie all 4 days, and what an adventure work was. Talk about busy. Yikes. We had a few mini crisis as well, but nothing TOO out of the ordinary. I got to hang with mom, dad, Toby, and Ann which is always great. Great food too! So, I had a blast at home, but it's good to be back in Muncie starting week 2. Wish me luck! haha.