5 Down, 1 to Go

For better or for worse, I am done with another quarter. I only have one left to complete. I can't guarantee the quality of any of the papers I just turned in, but they are turned in. And at this point, that is a major success.

Woo-hoo.

I knew it. . .

I should have known today wasn't going to go very well. Having a bad shift last night and losing an hour of sleep just wasn't enough, I guess. Today one of my clients ate something with strawberries in it, even though she knows she's allergic. (We all have our theories about why.) Of course this resulted in a swelling throat and a closing airway. . . causing a medical back-up, staff jabbing her with an epi-pen, and then ambulances flying in. Of course, within two minutes of this girl coming back to cottage, one of my staff made the ultra sensitive comment "I don't feel sorry for you - you brought this on yourself." Which while true, didn't help the situation. Of course this caused a 45 minute stand-off in which she was screaming (and I mean screaming) at the top of her lungs (you would never have known she had just gotten out of the hospital). She threatened all kinds of shenanigans before we were finally able to get her to a safe space. All of this excitement prevented me from getting any of my paperwork done and caused me to leave work much later than I should have or wanted to. Just what I need on my last weekend of the quarter with all my papers due.

Foiled by Daylight Savings

It is currently about 10 minutes before 1 am. I just got home from work. It was a very, very bad shift. One of the things that makes this shift so excruciating is that I have to be back at work at 9 am. This has happened on several weekends, but is made worse this weekend by the loss of a very precious hour. If I am complaining about such a short turnaround, why am I wasting precious sleeping time blogging, you might wonder. It is quite usual to need at least five to fifteen minutes after getting home to unwind before I can fall asleep. This is especially true after having such a bad shift. This turnaround is so shady that my coworker who would otherwise have to do the same took a vacation day just to avoid it. That means that I'll have to work tomorrow's already coming way too soon shift with a fill-in which always makes it more difficult. I am dreading it like no other.

As to the actual shift tonight. . . I consider myself a very competent person. Additionally, I have lived in several places without a car in which I was dependent upon public transportation. I am very able to figure this stuff out. Or so I thought. It was my responsibility to take 5 girls via the bus to a Walmart about 2 miles away - on a bus line that requires no transfers and seemingly no difficulties. Not so. Things went very wrong. Long story short -we did not get to Walmart by bus, after about an hour and a half of trying. To make matters worse, as I am trying to fix the problem with staff, my cell phone died. We then witnessed a head-on collision. It was a fiasco. But the whole trip wasn't a complete loss. I think I bestowed a great lesson on my girls - how to roll with the punches. This is a skill many of them struggle with, but they handled it beautifully. They are now ready for traveling by train in Europe.

I'm not sure this post is going to be very coherent, and I'm currently lacking the skills to edit it. Sorry.

End of the Quarter

Ok. . . So I am completely overwhelmed right now. The end of the quarter is next week. That means that everything for the quarter is due. Right now that includes 13 reaction papers to 13 articles I haven't read, one 12 page paper on gender-based violence, an hour presentation in family systems class, and a 10 page paper on international perspectives on trauma. Plus, I work 27 hours this weekend. Did I mention this is all due by Tuesday? On top of that, I have three workshops to plan for work next week. On top of that, I have a crap ton of work to do on my thesis. Things are definitely out of control.

In other news. . . despite the amazing amount of work I have do, I decided the best way to accomplish all this was to take a day and go snowboarding. Actually, that was last week, before this all piled up. (okay, I knew it was coming) I got a righteous sunburn - reddest face in my life. Not good, but I learned my lesson.

I couldn't have said it better

"I've already graduated". - Michelle, classmate, about 20 minutes into our International Perspectives on Trauma class, with a look of absolute lack of caring. My thoughts exactly.

Despite the fact that I have an amazing amount of work yet to do. . . most of my class is already feeling as if graduation has come and gone. There is just no way to get us to care about certain things. And yet, I have a lot left to do to actually get me to that point.

Since I have been remiss in my blogging as of late, here are some highlights from the last two weeks:

My friend and I both went shopping and replaced jeans that we had ripped through various mishaps and shenanigans. I still believe that someday I will grow up to be graceful.

I finally sent off my sister's birthday package. . . a week late. I rock as a sibling.

What kind of a two weeks have I had that these things are considered highlights?

A Wicked Weekend

So my weekend consisted mainly of. . . working. I worked Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday during the day. By the end of it I was ready to not go back to Phoenix Cottage for a week, if ever. I did manage to squeeze in some bowling with friends, which totally convinced us to join a league this summer.

Although I am really busy, I don't seem to be able to use all of my non-working time to study as I probably should. I think Scott said it best when he noted that he usually has to try to squeeze homework in between doing nothing and nothing. Amazing how nothing can fill your day.

Braiding and Braiding and Braiding and. . .

This is the position I thought my hand would never be able to uncurl from. Last week I braided my friend's hair. All of it. Into little tiny braids. And she has a lot of hair. We started at 10:00 am, and with a total of probably an hour break throughout the day, finished at 3:00 am. By the end we were both in excruciating pain. My back and hands were killing me. And I think every part of her was killing her. But it looks great. . .so as soon as I regain all functioning in my hands I'll be able to say it was worth it.