12. Today is the day before we go to Leadville for the weekend, so that Sweet Baboo can run with peeps and I can suck on a can of oxygen and watch my fingernails turn grey. We'll be staying at 10,000 feet, I think.
11. There's a lake there on the Leadville trail. I'm taking my wet-suit. And a neoprene cap. And neoprene booties.
10. I got a report from someone in mental health this week that was embarrassing. I was embarrassed for this person. It appeared, I shit you not, to have been written by a kid in the 9th grade. Bad punctuation, bad spelling, some of the spelling so bad that I couldn't figure what word was meant. Stuff like this:
This client was about The client's father works in construction and
The clients mother is a fulltime mother who stays at home .The client
Was having problems as an early age with ajregous behavior . and the
client was also reputed to have problemsw ith aggressive behavior
but this is not substantiated other than the current charges of assault .
There are three siblings who live with the father 1)a sister age 12 2) a
Brother aged 9 3)another sister aged 6.
Yeah, stuff like that. How did you get out of college with writing like that? I nearly went crazy trying not to go over the entire thing with red ink. I wanted to write something at the top like, "please proofread" at the top or, "please use your spellcheck!" together with a frowny face.
It was from someone in another part of the state. When I politely inquired if this clinician had tested this kid for depression or anxiety, the response was that they don't have tests like that up there. Where? Up there on the moon? What the hell?
9. I did my 4 mile run Tuesday, and my 6-mile run Wednesday, both at dawn, and it was still hot.
8. So far, I've stayed under my points at WeightWatchers. My weight seems to have stalled for now. I'm not too worried, in fact, I could stay at this weight indefinitely. Clothes fit me now.
7. I have discovered, quite by accident - I SWEAR - that those canned air dusters really freak cats out.
6. A few months ago I had a tense, angry teenager in my office who told me that if I couldn't help him, right now, right that second, he wasn't answering any of my "stupid questions". He's one of about 2 or 3 kids that I couldn't get to talk to me.
I can usually spin it pretty good to where they relax and start talking. It's one of my special gifts, good for a very small percentage of vocations...like high school teaching, and, well, what I do now. Anyway, I forgot about him until he asked his therapist to bring him to my office, so that he could show me how well he's doing, because he's about to be discharged. I didn't recognize him at first, because he was relaxed and happy and smiling. And proud.
I've come to find out that we do a good job where I work, and I feel good about working at a place where we do a good job, and tense, angry teenagers on a path to self destruction walk out, at least for that moment, relaxed and happy.5. Last week I talked about kids and meltdowns. Yesterday I had another clinician in my office and a kid had a meltdown right outside my office door. Not only was it distracting, but she was trapped, because the kid was sitting right against the door, surrounded by counselors tying to talk him down. So after an awkward pause, we were all, "so, how are the kids?"
4. I think that some people take themselves wayyyyy too seriously. That is all.
3. If you didn't already know about this, I'll tell you: Starbucks has a frapaccino lite that is made with syrup sweetened with Stevia. A granda carmel or mocha frapaccino lite is 150 calories, or 3 weight watcher points. That's three miles. Totally worth it.
2. I am in a classroom right now that is not my classroom, and everyone is staring at me because they know I don't belong in here...so...I have to go now.
1. Cheers, y'all.
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