Back in the saddle again

Sorry for planting a little earworm, there. (Hey, if it's stuck in my head, might as well be stuck in yours, too.)

School started up again this past week. However, what with having Monday (Martin Luther King Day), Tuesday (Inauguration Day), and Thursday (the day of the March for Life) *off*, we didn't have much in the way of actual school until Friday. Until then, I'd still just been going to my externship two days a week and seeing my one IPS client for one hour Wednesday mornings. Life was still pretty relaxed.

Then Friday hit. Here's what I did yesterday:

9-10am: finish preparing for my class presentation

10-11am: class discussion on last week's lecture

11am: my hour-long class presentation on my off-site externship experience, including the process of diagnosing Executive Function disorders in children and the neuropsychological effects of neurofibromatosis on the developing brain. [extended Q&A, general applause, *phew!*]

[11:59am: Make mental note to self to read that chapter on the neurological effects of chemotherapy on children with leukemia before returning to externship on Tuesday.]

12pm: eat lunch with one hand, while completing the file on a recent assessment case for IPS with the other.

2-3pm: supervision of the assessment case; present my supervisor with my diagnosis of the case and get direction on how to write up the report [due next week].

3-4pm: dissertation meeting with my two co-chairs; establish my dissertation goals for the semester {finish initial research, complete proposal, defend proposal, get approval to begin my study] and get my working assignment for the next two weeks.

4-4:20pm: quick check-in with Dr. Moncher, whose class I'm the T.A. for, to get my reading and teaching assignment for class on Monday morning. {Read three chapters, teach the Master's students about the importance and function of empathy in therapy.]

4:30pm: COFFEE BREAK WITH FRIEND!! ...but only for half an hour, 'cause he's in the middle of doing an assessment with a client, who should be finishing up that paper-and-pencil test any time now...

5pm: go home exhausted.

I had hoped to do some peaceful studying from my chair that evening, but I ended up ditching that plan and watching episodes of Frasier and 30 Rock online. No sense in diving into this "school" thing all at once...

So school is in full-swing again, and so (apparently) am I! Mostly. The good news is I actually feel invigorated by it all, (though a tiny bit overwhelmed). I do love what I'm doing, and having my chair at school helps enormously. The Master's students already know to expect to see me teaching from a semi-recumbent posture.

I'm going to be much more comfortable than they will. :)

Need a laugh?

I'm sorry for the long delay in posting! I have several thoughts to get out on...er, post. But to tide you over 'till then (all, like, four of you), here's a video clip I have watched at least 8 times.

It just gets funnier.

Final "Burning Jesus" poem

(I originally had "Flaming Jesus" in the title, but that sounded...unfortunate.) Sorry for the absence! I've been enjoying a very pleasant, relaxed Christmas season.

However, we need something to mark the transition from the promise of Advent to the fulfillment of Christmas, so here's that final poem I had in mind, continuing the theme started by Wasichu with "A Christmas Carol" and followed by "The Burning Babe":



Fire in the Earth

It is done.
Once again the Fire has penetrated the earth
Not with the sudden crash of thunderbolt,
riving the mountain tops;
does the Master break down doors to enter his own home?
Without earthquake, or thunderclap,
the flame has lit up the whole world from within.
All things individually and collectively
are penetrated and flooded by it,
from the inmost core of the tiniest atom
to the mighty sweep of the most universal laws of being;
so naturally has it flooded every element, every energy,
every connecting link in the unity of our cosmos,
that one might suppose the cosmos to have burst spontaneously into flame.

--Pierre Theilhard de Chardin

A blessed, joyful Christmas to everyone!