Think Nice Thoughts...

Nice soothing, protective ones for me, please?

Heading out in the morning with my folks and my sister in their new RV. Egads this was SUCH a bad idea! Dad decided that due to Mom's incontinence this was the only way she'd ever get out and about (he calls it a pot on wheels). Well she claims the problem(s) are solved and she doesn't need this anyway, and with the price of gas so high (spent $3.76/gal for lowest grade this AM), a 30 gallon tank and 10 MPG, I can't see the silver lining here, myself. But still he bought it, then realized he is terrified to drive it and decided that L(sister) and I should drop everything and drive Mom and him around the countryside. Sigh... If there is one thing that has truly never EVER crossed my mind it is traveling the world in a motor home. I DESPISE the buggers weaving all over the road with little puffs of grey hair barely showing over the steering wheel. This one is small, 24 feet I think, but I'm sure it will sway in the wind just fine. I'm also sure the risk that Mom will mistake the back door for the bathroom and step out onto the freeway at 65mph is quite high.

So this is the initiation trip. L drove them to my house and we'll tandem up through the big cities visiting friends and relatives. Then L will fly home from up north and I'll drive them back down here. From there, hopefully, Dad can navigate himself back Home. They live near an enormous city, but they don't actually have to drive through the city, just through a piece of sprawl to the south. If he can't do that he should sell the fucker and be done with it! Really he shouldn't drive at all, IMOP, but that's a story for another time and place.

Even without the whole RV thing, 5 days with my parents is something to make the bravest soul quake. May I introduce Pollyanna and Lucifer? L just snuck around the back of my house and headed out to a hotel so she can sleep in peace tonight. I have only a pair of air mattresses and she is a finicky sleeper. I guess Dad took a power nap before she arrived last night and proceeded to keep her awake until 2am, then got up again at 5 and began grinding coffee beans. The bed was horrid and the bathroom so nasty she wore shoes and levitated. Can't blame her at all for wanting respite before she faces another three days with them.

Dad is riding high at the moment, mood wise, which means he's talking endlessly and loudly and demanding every nanosecond of everyone's time. No doubt he will crash soon and become a sullen, irritable 3 year old for at least half of the trip, complete with at least one whopping temper tantrum. WHY is it that I feel the need to tolerate this shit? Ok, because I was raised believing your parents are to be cherished and respected and that you should give back for all the sacrifices they made for you. Well I've heard somewhere that two out of three ain't bad... how about just the one, will that suffice? On the bright side I will come home with a much greater appreciation for the life I live with a wonderful person who does NOT behave like this. Granted the feathered pets are incontinent, for all intents and purposes, so there are some similarities, but they're at least cute in the bargain!

Ahh....

So this take-home final exam for my projective testing class only took me 15-20 hours, en toto, starting two weeks ago, and THREE all nighters starting this past Sunday. Gah!

I can say definitively that I will NOT be giving Rorschachs on a regular basis. The test is a fucking nightmare to score and interpret. I'll give it this, it's pretty accurate for the subject I assessed, but it's just not worth the agony.

And then, of course, there were the last four items to polish off on the Neuropsych exam, as well. Done and sent ten minutes ago.

I am SO looking forward to coming home from work tomorrow and going straight to bed.

**************************************************************************************
Oh, and as an addendum, I didn't end up administering a Rorschach to the 6 year old today after all. It was moot because he refused to cooperate with almost all of the projective testing we tried. Little children, particularly those along the autism spectrum, are NOT my forte! My hat is off to the parents for making it six years without losing their sanity or brutalizing their child. I was on the brink of both after just fifteen minutes. Jeeze... give me a little adolescent murderer or a rapist any day but save me from uncooperative innocents! ;p

There and Not

Sigh... well I'm done for the quarter... NOT! Officially joining DiDi and everyone else who has protested professors who ignore academic calenders and just plow right on past the last week. I have two in that boat this time around, so I now have two take home finals to do this coming week. And this is KINDNESS mind you, because after screwing up and not giving us what we needed to complete the work in the time alloted, these instructors have been soft-hearted enough to give us another two weeks to complete our newly adjusted assignments. FUCK THAT!!!

I wanted to do them this weekend, but AR wants to go hiking tomorrow, I work Sunday, practicum Monday and Tuesday and then I am working again Wed and probably Thursday. There's no way I'll rain on AR's parade; I can't even remember the last time we went anywhere together, that's how much my school has overshadowed our marriage. =( So maybe next weekend... GAH!!!

On a happier note, the Chair of the MFT program at my university has asked me if I want to teach some masters classes. WAHOO!!! I had asked around about the possibility, but every time I stopped by her office she was out, and I thought she'd be the prof for our 'teaching psychology' class next term, so figured I'd ask her then. Turns out she's NOT teaching it, but she heard from several people that I was interested and that I was tutoring and very well liked, so she just handed me a list of classes and told me to check which ones I might like to teach! Seems the ones I'm most interested in are exactly the ones she is having trouble finding good instructors for. How perfect is that? I guess some of the MA people are not so on fire about testing and assessment since they don't envision themselves doing much of it. We tentatively agreed that I would start with the clinical skills course, which is a testing overview, next winter. How the f... I am going to squeeze that into my every expanding schedule I don't know, but I will. There is no WAY I am going to pass up the opportunity to work as a PAID adjunct professor in a masters level program when it falls in my lap.

Jeeoy!!

Blast From the Past

Yet another new and interesting case! I am going to administer both the Roberts Apperception Test for Children(RATC) and a Rorschach to a a 6 year old child next week. This should be fascinating! Good for the old CV, but man, the RATC is such a horrifically DATED test! Same artist as the TAT, but all the cards have children on them. And so culture bound too...

So just one week to go now... no, actually four days and I am out for spring break. HOORAY!!! Only putting in half a practicum day tomorrow, which is a blessing. I have a huge hairy Rorschach report to complete, among other things. Really not too bad though, because I've been doing an average of one paper and one presentation a week all term, so I have just one of each again this week. Other students have let it pile up and have papers and presentations in every class this week. Ukk!!! It's always stressful to go early, but so much better in the long run if you can manage it.

This week I haven't been able to make myself do anything school related. I'm beyond burned out. The weather is spectacular and all I want to do is spring cleaning, mowing, hiking and just basically ANYTHING that isn't related to school or my practicum. Bring on the break!!!

Entree is still doing well. He's rallied after his battle with the gopher (bite and ensuing infection) and we're back to wondering if someone made a mistake and swapped the sonograms or something. Not really, he's thinner and his feet have sore spots, but it doesn't prevent him from getting out and about and into everything.