OK, promised end-of-semester, long-overdue, highly-hyphenated update:
1) Semester is over! Year One down! Although, not entirely. I still have to do my (unpaid) practicum this summer, which most people (who do not work) in my class did this spring. I am looking forward to it, however, even though it's unpaid. I think I'm going to opt for the acute behavioral health care ward in one of the hospitals in town. I interviewed with the lady today. It was awkward (she'd never interviewed a practicum student before), but it was a neat environment. It's very short-term: a few days until crisis is averted, and then they're released into longer-term care or outpatient care.
2) Going back a few months: Jay and I went to Myrtle Beach for break, and met Ilya down there. We hung out for a few days. It was very nice. I hadn't seen him in years, and we had a lot of fun. Ilya and Jay got along pretty well, too, which is always good. We played mini-golf (I kicked their butts, surpringly. I'm bad at mini-golf), we went to the arcade (Jay won a switch-blade comb. Ilya won.. hmm.. he wanted the eyeball ring, but I forget what he ended up getting.) We went to Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville restaurant, which
I really enjoyed, after one strong Bahama Mama, but they thought was overly cheesy. I sang along with the song Margaritaville, and chanted "salt" in all the right places. Oh, no. I realized that Scott is probably reading this, and thinking he's converted me over the years. No! You haven't! I just liked Margaritaville. Although I must admit that my Cheeseburger in Paradise was really more like a Cheeseburger in OK-ville.
3) Jay has a real job! An internship that's 40 hours a week over the summer, at Perot Systems (where my friend Shawn works.) Yes, he'll be working for H. Ross Perot's empire. Making real money, though. He's done so well with his classes, I'm so proud of him. He was inducted into the hoity-toity Phi Beta Kappa honor society earlier this semester. He's going to be so embarassed when he reads this, but that's ok. hehe. As a result of him getting a good job, I will get a new computer later this month (as a birthday present.) That's good, because this one is sucking the life out of me. It needs Help.
4) I still like my research assistant job alot. The people are great, and I'm really getting to do some researchy stuff. Not really social work related, but that's ok. I'd much whether work in an environment where I like all the people, who all have a sense of humor, than work in a humorless social worky environment.
5) My dad had his gall bladder out the week before last. At the end of February, he made an emergency trip to the hospital because he thought he was having chest pains (a bad thing for a man that has had a sextuple bypass.) Luckily, after doing all the necessary tests, they decided his heart was fine (yay!) but his gall bladder needed to come out. It's a right of passage for those in my family, I think. Both of my grandmas have had theirs out, my cousin Blair (who's only 20), and now Dad.
6) I think I got all As in my classes. I did really bad on a paper (a 71%. I don't think I've ever scored so low on a paper in my life) at the beginning of the semester in psychopathology. I was looking at the syllabus for the requirements, rather than the grading sheet he gave us. However, I rallied with a 107% average on all our quizzes, good class participation, and a good group paper. We'll find out soon enough how I really did, as I obsessively check the webUK stuff where they post the grades.
7) I saw TMBG in early April, in Danville. It really kicked ass. Aimee was supposed to go with us, but she had some flu-like malady, so her ticket went to my friend Michelle. It was a pretty small show.
Corn Mo opened, and wow, was he weird. But in a good way. Check him out. He's opened for TMBG a bunch of times on national tours, but it turns out he was born and bred in the great state of Kentucky. hehe. Which gave the show a local flavor. Anyhow, the TMBG show was fun, and the confetti cannon was not in James K. Polk, but rather another song! *gasp* I was very confused. hehe. This was around the time of mine and Jay's 5th anniversary, and our relationship originally came to exist because of people we knew from our mutual love of the Johns. Aww. Full circle.
8) I have planted basil, sage, and rosemary in pots on the deck outside, along with various wildflowers. I've been trying to do some real yardwork on a weekly basis, for both exercise and house beautification. I'd like to plant some tomatoes in a few weeks. Mmm. Tomatoes. Friend Bill is planting some heirloom varieties, so hopefully he'll share some of his bounty.
9) My social work posse and I went bowling the other night. I'm a pretty decent bowler, when I'm practiced (which I wasn't, the other night.) I was all afraid that Michelle, the athletically gifted one among us, was going to kick our collective asses. However, surprisingly, she consistently scored the lowest, and our diminuitive Tawainese friend kicked our butts. Turned out she took a bowling class in college. It was great.
10) I feel like I should add a 10th item, but I'm not sure what it should be. Um... the house has been in various states of disarray because of our lack of time (and motivation) to clean, due to finals. I fully cleaned the office today (including dusting!) It's now nice and calming to sit in, not cluttered with various journal articles, textbooks, and library books. And on an unrelated note, everyone go read the new Sarah Vowell book
Assassination Vacation.
