Woah-oh, we're halfway there...

So, I made the deal with myself that if I ran 3 times/week and strength trained 2 times/week for six weeks, I could pierce my naval. Today is the half-way point, and I'd like to show you something:


It's a bit hard to see, I know. But all those little purple circles? They are enclosing the letter S, R and/or B. S = strength training, R = running, B = biking. And those purple circles say that I am right on track! Whee!

I haven't seen any change in my weight in these last 3 weeks, but I am seeing changes in muscle definition in my arms and legs, which is very cool. I motivate myself to strength train by looking at my cute little muscles that I haven't had since the height of my ice cream scooping career last summer. :) And get this: I'm ready to upgrade from the 3lb. weights that I do my 4o minute workouts with to 5lb. ones. Go me!

I've been biking to and from school and church as much as possible, although the rain held me up one day, and my hair did another. My helmet doesn't fit when my hair's in two buns, and I was too tired to problem solve that morning. :D

I've been seeing quite a bit of my friends lately, and in doing so, have come across a couple funny stories for you. We went out for dinner at Padmanadi's (I hope I spelled that right), and it's over kind of in Cromdale. As I was walking from the bus stop to the restaurant, I passed the "Mildly Chinese Herbal Centre." Next time I apply for my passport, I think I'll put down that I'm mildly caucasian.

On Thursday I went to MEC to get a bell for my bike, and I noticed a little placard in an apartment building's flower bed. It said "Thank you for not peeing your pet on our grass." Owch! I feel terrible for these people who are peeing their pets - how excruciatingly painful to have to pass a small mammal through one's urinary tract! And I know that this is what they meant, because three steps down the road there was a SECOND placard, with exactly the same admonition on it. Does PETA know that this is happening??

Bed time - fresh sheets and a good book await!

E.

Balance

Yeah, yeah, I cut the top of my head off. YOU try and take a picture of yourself standing on one foot. (Please ignore the empty wine bottle and the garbage that needs to go out... I'll be dealing with those later! And yes, my shirt *does* say "does not play well with others." I think that forewarned is forarmed!)

Anyhoo. This is actually not the kind of balance I'm talking about. I just thought it'd be cute. I'm talking about the kind of balance where your life doesn't consist of going to school, cleaning your apartment, watching TV, and reading books. *coughcoughthelifeIlivedayearorsoagocoughcough*. I was running through the river valley on Friday morning when I suddenly realized how much happier I am now than I've ever been before. (This seems to be a theme for this year. It's a good theme. It could stick around for as long as it wanted, and I'd be pleased. Thematically pleasing, that's my life.) And I think a lot of it is just that I'm so much more balanced than I've ever been before.

At heart, I'm an introvert. Being with people uses up my energy; being alone replenishes it. Lovely. Fine. Not a big deal. But I used to spend absolutely obscene amounts of time alone. Sitting next to someone for 50 minutes in a 300 person psych class really doesn't count as time with others. ;) The weirdest part is that, in many ways, I was convinced that I liked spending so much time with me, myself, and I. I have very 'happy' memories of puttering around the apartment for a whole weekend, never really seeing anyone else, except my roommate.

WHAT WAS I THINKING?? I would go INSANE if I spent that much time doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING now. When I think of all the time I wasted in front of the TV... yuck! And I was lonely all the time, because I never spent any time with any people! (Was that sentence good English? I think not. But you get the idea.)

Anyhoo. I was running in the river valley, and I realized that now, even when I'm by myself, I'm a lot happier than I used to be. Now, when I'm alone, I'm usually doing something productive, like running, or reading, or cooking, instead of sitting on the couch, letting my brain cells ooze out my ears. (I also sleep. Sleep is good.) And I value that alone time so much more because I spend a lot of time with great, great people. Megs and I are together a lot, I'm going for dinner with Chris tonight, Katie and I will be attached at the hip this summer... and yes, I'm still dating like a 'floozy' (as Adrian so nicely put it! *grin*)

So I'm taking care of myself socially, spiritually, physically (I love riding my bike. My brother tells me that I'm the kind of girl who takes something totally geeky, and rocks it. Hence my Cool Cat sunglasses, and my sexy bike. That's its name, by the way. One of my classmates christened it!), and intellectually. It's such a great feeling!

Also a great feeling: I'm officially able to make conversation with a rock now. I know, I know - you're all thinking "E., you never STOP talking. Why is this exciting??" The truth of the matter is that, yes, I can talk the hind leg off a rhino... provided that I already know the rhino, and am comfortable with him. But I really, really stink at making small talk with people that I don't know that well. This was probably my biggest weakness as an ESL teacher - I found it really difficult to stimulate natural conversation in the classroom without using some sort of paper prompt (a game, a story, etc.). I was a bit worried about this being a problem in my clinical life, as well. Then, well...

Then I started dating a lot more than usual. And seriously - one or two dates where no one says anything, because neither of you can think of anything to say? HIGHLY MOTIVATING. My use of open-ended questions, and "tell me more" has increased exponentially. ;) I feel a lot more comfortable in odd little situations, like talking to people at church whom I don't know well, chatting with the staff at school that I don't interact with very often, etc..., and I'm really hoping that it carries over into clinic. We'll see!

Well, this is a long and introspective post. (AKA - really boring for anyone that isn't me.)

Cheers!
me

Back to School

Hey all,

so I've been back at school for two days of spring session. Today, I had to have a nap when I got home. *blush*

I was feeling a bit worried and stressed about this whole 'clinic' experience, and had really put off thinking about it for quite a while. Yesterday was an "orientation and jumping in with both feet" kind of day - a day that a few of my peers found disconcerting and a bit stressful. For me, it actually calmed some of my concerns. We finally sorted out some of our schedules, and got a sense of what the spring would look like. Today we continued in that vein, and learned about what our clinical educators (the SLPs who supervise in the clinic) expect of us. As we talked about it, I realized that I'm in a wonderful position: I have done a LOT of this before!

Being observed and critically evaluated while practicing a professional skill? I spent four full weeks doing that in September '06, during my teacher training. I can handle that. Communicating with someone where communication is difficult? Eight months in Prague working with non-native speakers of English. Legal documentation for confidentiality, monitoring contact, tracking treatment? Six months working for the Edmonton John Howard Society. I am feeling much, much better about my ability to do this. I'm also smiling to myself, and thanking God for the circuitious route I took to get to speech!

One of our textbooks this term is Counseling Persons with Communication Disorders and Their Families. This book is wonderful, and is inspiring a new interest in me. A few of you know that, during my fourth year of uni, I had some serious doubts about becoming an SLP. I was also considering law or clinical psych. Eventually I decided that speech was really the place for me. This textbook, along with our assessment class, is showing me that speech is a field that is slowly beginning to incorporate more and more counseling strategies. This is so exciting! It appears that I'm going to have the opportunity to pursue my interest counseling alongside my interest in speech and language. Sweet! (Hmm... PhD in clinical psychology...)

So school and my excitement are both a little tiring. I think I'm also tired because yesterday I got up and ran for 45 minutes before school, and this morning I got up and did an hour of strength training. THEN... I rode my 'new' bike to and from school!


Ok, so 'new' is stretching it. It's actually older than I am. But it's comfy, the tires hold air, and it gets me from point A ("downtown") to point B ("school"). Let me tell you - pedalling home in the wind is very tiring! But it's fun to be out with all the other cyclists, and I get to school a bit faster than I do when I take the LRT. So huzzah!

Well, that's all that's new... bye for now!
e.

PS - What did the Buddhist say to the hot dog vendor?