A bit of happy

Hope this starts off your week with a bit of happy:

What week is it? I've lost track... Oh wait, Week 4

I feel like I've been going on crisis management - just barely keeping up, putting out fires, only completing the assignments that are due and putting readings off. But I know I'm not the only one so in that, I find solace.

I've been thinking how as a hope-to-be future OT, how I can improve myself. After all, how can I promote wellness if I don't consider myself to be "well"? It's the weight; I've put on quite a bit ever since the kids were born. I didn't have a weight problem as a kid so this whole getting older, metabolism slowing down is hard to get used to. Anyway, I have been going running at least x3 a week. I've gotten to the point where I look forward to it; it's a part of the day where I take time and just evaluate where I am, what I need to do, etc.

We had gobs of projects due this past week for our Tools class. In a nerdy kind of way, I enjoyed it. I don't often get the excuse to watercolor (which I used to create my personal mandala). I really wish I had the right brush to do that background. I did that with a brush that was similar to a lipstick brush. I changed that green border to black just to make it bolder but right now I'm too lazy to take another picture. Oh well, it's done. One day, I may go back and explain what the different things mean.

One of the things I had to complete was my pithy quote, which I took out of The Healing Heart. I decided to decorate my quote with a bit of knitting; it was fun to have that diversion even though it was just a wee bit. So I dedicate this to Karen:

(Sorry about the quality of the pic; I used my camera phone.)

Now that those projects are out of the way, I feel less stressed. Even though I still have 2 (or is it 3) group projects to go.

Week 2

This has been a FAST week! I'm sure the Labor Day holiday had something to do with it. Now that we're into our second week, we're well into the nitty, gritty work stuff. We've got a group presentation due in one week, another group project due in two weeks, a quick research project also in another two weeks and Fieldwork I starts soon. I need bigger boxes in my calendar...

One thing I wish I was better at was reading. I'm a pretty slow reader. Let me rephrase that: if I read for leisure and I find the story interesting, I can read pretty quickly. But when I read to study, I often find myself slowing down so I can absorb every detail. One things I'm horrible with are names and dates (I'm surprised I ever passed history). To help me with that, I'll take notes but rarely do I go back to them. These notes are written so it'll make sense to me and are really more for me to be more involved while reading. Just the act of writing it helps me remember. I guess most people in this case would highlight or underline in their book. Maybe I'll make a small arrow to the side but I never liked highlighting. But that's just me and maybe that's why I'm a bit slow in this aspect.

There was an article I read on ZenHabits [via Lifehacker] on how to learn more and study less. In a way, I suppose, it's what I've been doing - making it make sense from the beginning. The author explains that time spent studying does not equal learning. He calls it "holistic learning" - to seek the bigger picture and connect the facts together. It's worth the read.

With that, I've got GOBS of reading to do. For tonight's selection, I'll be reading from this book, this one, this one, this one, this one, and this one. I best be getting started.

Sunday morning...

Max and I went out to the park after I was done with my shift. Looks like they painted all the playground equipment over the summer. Now they are all red, yellow, and blue - I love it! No more sad chipped baby blue with hints of orange and brown. Not until these layers flake off anyway. Quick snap of him trying to conquer the rocketship. (Note: the light pole tilting in the background is due to my cameraphone)



I had my textbooks with me in the car so I was going to read while he played but it was more fun playing, of course. So that's what we did. I did manage to get him to get in the jogging stroller so that I can get some decent exercise.

The other 2 kids were with my mom (her suggestion, not mine, and who can pass up unsolicited babysitting?). It was nice to hang out just with Max. We could actually talk without him feeling like he has to yell for attention. Though our conversation consisted of him telling me that we were going to go to Africa using the submarine (that yellow thing behind rocketship, no not the giraffe, the other yellow thing)

So no OT work done today but we went to Africa so the day was not a total loss :)

Brain by Brain

I cannot emphasize how I am so glad I am done with neuro A&P! Not sure if this would have helped much but at least it would have provided a much needed mental break:



On a less silly note, one of the things I am interested in is memory - mainly because mine sucks. WNYC's Radio Lab had a segment earlier this summer on Memory and Forgetting that is very entertaining and informative (and how often can that be claimed?) If you enjoyed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, they present a possibility that erasing memories *could* work. Crazy! Check it out!

and... B R E A T H E

1 week of OT school down, 14* more until end of the semester...

which if I had thought about that after the first day, maybe I wouldn't have panicked as much. The first day is usually going over the syllabus, setting expectations in the class - but couple that with trying to understand the structure of the program itself, getting used to the school computer systems - well it can understandably be overwhelming. After going through the schedules for the year (which I am so grateful that all the professors have planned out for the duration of the semester) and listing all the projects / readings / assignments /etc., the schedule is more digestible. See? when I just say 14 weeks left, it's not so bad. Lesson to learn: if there's anything overwhelming to the point you don't even know where to start, break it down to more manageable chunks. This way, when you meet your mini-goals, you can at least see some progress. Works for many things: school planning, projects, laundry (though I'm not quite sure about the laundry, at least for us...)

So one of the objectives this semester is setting up the foundation of OT: its history, frameworks, etc. One thing I've noticed is there is a lot of mention of "Reflection". Reflect on this, Reflect on that. I am not that comfortable thinking that way. Well, I am - but had never been obligated to commit my thoughts down on paper. I think that may also be part of the reason why I never journaled very much; I have this need to perFECT my thoughts. Not that my thoughts are PERfect - from far it. It's more like I'll jot something down and it would be fine - for that day. But if I come back to it weeks or even years and I disagree with what I wrote down at that time, I want to delete it. I need to just let it go, at the very least witness my own ever evolving thought process - however scatter-brained it may be.

On the kid front, they have been coping. My daughter is very excited that she gets go to the after school program they have because her friend from last year (who is not in her class this year and she is sad about that) is also in the same program. In fact, last year she kept begging to join because it sounded so much fun. All I could think of was I am working nights from home so I can spend more time with the kids and she would rather hang out at school longer. shEEsh! Actually, I am glad she feels confident in herself to go off on her own. Even when she started preschool, she never had separation anxiety. At the time, it made me kind of sad that she would leave my side so easily. But the boys - OH THE BOYS! - they have a hard time letting go. They started preschool last year and it would almost always take me 20-30 mins to leave the classroom. I think it's harder with twins: with one, you can distract long enough to sneak away but with two, it's like they serve as each other's lookout. Oh, and they can each grab a leg. They'll be starting school next week so we'll see how that goes.

My daughter had come home one day this week with a dollar that her friend had given to her. I asked her what is was for. She said she helped her friend with her math - took me a while to figure out that my daughter got paid for doing her friend's homework. Is it wrong to feel a bit proud? I did tell her to give the dollar back, you know, cuz it's the right thing to do. At least wait until 2nd grade. :D

So other than working this weekend, I'll be reading the various chapters from the vast array of books. I can't wait to read that APA Publication Manual!! Just kidding of course - I mean, I do have to read that Manual but I am looking forward to the OT textbooks themselves. Not that I'm anti-proper use of parenthesis or anything. Maybe I should start blogging in APA style? nah - I like my liberal use of run-on sentences and dashes for no-apparent-reason.

Just for fun: check out the anatomical socks and t-shirts. ALMOST makes me want to take A&P again. Well, no it doesn't but it's still neat. [via boing boing]

*No, I didn't count the weeks. I am using a teacher's planner that just so happens to list the week by numbers so when I looked at my calendar, I knew it right away. It also lists how many days into the school year we've been in. Makes me wonder - are teachers also counting down the school year as much as the students? Probably so.