This week has been pretty good, but kind of stressful. Yesterday, I had to get a hepatitis shot. It's the first in a series of three. I have to get these because I work in a patient care center and could be exposed to all sorts of fun stuff. I got a tetnus shot last week, and next week I get a tuberculosis test. Oh, goody! I spent the majority of the morning testing a child who we think has ADHD. (and he is ADHD if I ever saw one!) He was all over the place, and I seriously wanted to super glue him in his seat. I then got to consult with a family after I tested their son last week. That was kind of nuts, because I didn't have much time between patients. Oh well. I also was all geared up for my therapy patient. I had printed stuff from the internet, made copies of some literature for my patient, and was all ready to go. Well, guess what, she stood me up! Pooey on her. I then wanted to make it to the car dealer before seven. I left Ft. Worth at five, and would normally have plenty of time. Well, there was a wreck right where I-30 and I-35 W meet. That took forever! I made it at about six forty-five. I do not like cutting it so close! They did a nice job on my car, though.

Today at group supervision, I found out what my next rotation is going to be. I will be working in the Rehabilitation Clinic. It's part of the Manipulative Medicine Department. I don't know much about it, but I guess I will in a few weeks. I then had to give a presentation in my class. I was the first one to present, and I was glad to get it out of the way. A couple of the supervisors from my practicum came to the class and listened to my presentation. They then asked some pretty tough questions. I was able to answer them, though, and that made me feel good. I had two piano kids today, and they both did really well, which always makes me feel good.

I hope everyone has a good holiday. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I am ready for the semester to be over. I know, it almost it, and I am ready for a break from school. This has been a good semester, but I have been pretty stressed out for a lot of it. Oh well. I can hang on for three weeks. (two, not counting this week). David and I went to Houston over the weekend, to view the exhibit that I mentioned in my previous post. I had a really good time. After viewing the exhibit, he and I went out on the town with some of his Aggie buddies. Navigating through downtown Houston was really tough! However, David got us there, and we were ready to have a good time.

We ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. I didn't know there was one in Houston, but apparently there is. I got to meet some nice people and enjoy good food. I also bought a Hard Rock t-shirt, as I collect those. They were teasing me about the size of my shirt, as I typically buy in the children's sizes. (Hey, they're cheaper and they fit better!) We then went over to a place and played some pool. Well, they played pool. I attempted to hit the ball, and was all excited when I actually got one in the pocket! That was my last game. I decided to quit while I was ahead. It was funny, they only had one size pool cue, and it was almost as tall as me. So, obviously, I had some trouble maintaining control over the silly thing. Oh well, good company + good music + bad pool = a fun evening. The drive back was fairly uneventful, although we encountered some rain along the way. We also noticed the drastic drop in temperature by the time we reached my house! Brrrr! Last night at youth, it was so cold, even David was wearing a coat!

Today has been a good day so far. Besides being cold and having to walk forever to get to class. I did really well on the quiz I had this morning, that always makes me feel good. We also practiced taking blood pressure on each other, using the automatic machine. Our TA had fun trying to get a reading from my arm. He had to wrap the cuff around me at least twice and hold it on my arm while the machine took the reading. Now my arm is sore from that. Well, I should probably get back to this presentation that I'm supposed to give on Wednesday. It's basically over a paper I did a couple years ago, and I'm transferring it to power point and adding a few things. Go make it a great day, world!

Anywho, I helped a couple of the junior high kids put up Christmas lights around the room. That was interesting, as they kept squabbling over the best way to hang the lights. We had to move the ladder around the room, which meant the couches and chairs had to be moved as well. For some reason, I was the only one moving the furniture, and I am not the best person to be doing that. It did take a few of us to move the couch, but the other stuff, I moved on my own. At any rate, I kept getting overheated and had to go outside to cool off. At one point, I sat down on one of the big chairs to catch my breath. Well, a couple of kids were tossing around a basketball, and I caught it with my forehead. That's right, the stupid ball hit me really hard on my forehead. It's still sore today, although I don't have a bruise or anything. C'est la vie.

Today I got to sit in on a really interesting sesson of couples' therapy. I also found out that the American Psychological Association conference is going to be in Hawaii next year. That would be really cool to go to. I am looking at the prospect of doing a research project with the diabetic database that we have. I'm not really interested in diabetes, but I am interested in getting published, and this would be a good way to accomplish that goal. Since we didn't have supervision today, a couple of my peers and I ate lunch at the hospital cafeteria. I had some excellent corn and green pepper bisque. The three of us ate there last week, and we really enjoyed the time to discuss patients, classes and pretty much have a gripe session. Those are necessary sometimes, I think. Well, I don't know what else to say, because I am about to fall asleep at the computer.

Yesterday was even crazier than Monday. I spent the morning doing research on EEGs and ADHD. I wanted to leave by four, since I had students coming for piano lessons at five. Well, we had a patient show up at three-thirty, and my supervisor wanted me to take down the information during the interview. Well, she was very chatty. and it was quarter to five when I finally left the Health Science Center. I called my students and asked them to come at five-thirty and that I would be there as soon as I could. It was quarter to six when I got home, and I gave the girls their lesson. I talked to their parents, and I think I'm going to move them to a different day, because I'm obviously going to have a problem getting home in time for their lessons. (They switched from another day last week.) Anywho, after their lesson, I threw food in the direction of my face, changed clothes and them went to rehearsal. At band rehearsal, one of the pieces we worked on was the 1812 Overture, which is one of my favorite classical pieces. The best part is that our director wants to get a cannon for the end part! I think it would be really, really fun to play the cannon, although no one else thinks I should play it. Just rain on my parade, people! At any rate, I did get to play the chimes at the end, which entails hitting the chimes as hard as I can and as fast as I can. My arms were so sore when I was finished with that piece! Oh well, it was definitely worth it. I am very much looking forward to playing that song!

Considering I was studying most of the weekend, I did have a good one. Friday night, we had lots of trick or treaters! I was upstairs, trying to study, and the doorbell kept ringing. I was SO ready to unplug it! Or turn it off, or do whatever I needed to do to make it go away!! One of our neighbors down the street had a haunted house, which attracted lots of people, and I think someone else on our block had a party. At any rate, we ran out of stuff, so we just turned off all the lights downstairs and didn't answer the door.

Saturday, I was, you guessed it, studying. David had to work all day, he came over and kidnapped me and took me to dinner. Although, I drove, so would you call that a kidnapping? We were gone less than two hours, then it was back to the salt mines for both of us, me studying, and him back to work. On Sunday, I was there early for a quick warm-up with the kids before we sang for the congregation. Since it was the early service, I knew that several of them would not be there, but I thought we had a pretty good turn out, considering. They did so well, and I received many compliments on how well they sang and how nice they looked. We then took them back to the choir room for rehearsal. Since they normally have rehearsal at nine, and it was eight-twenty, we decided to have rehearsal early, and then take them to the gym for opening worship with the other children. We worked with them on our Christmas program, and they worked really hard, however, it was a long rehearsal for them. They were ready to leave, and I was ready for them to leave. Since Suzy (my helper) had to be at her Sunday school class, I stayed with the kids until the people who do the children's worship came. Three of the girls decided to run up and give me a hug. All at the same time, which is not a good thing if you're my size. No, they didn't knock me over, but since I was wearing no-traction shoes on a slippery gym floor, I did get pushed around a little bit. Oh well, they're funny. During the late service, when I was playing percussion, I apparently hit the congas too hard and had a big purple spot on my finger. The funny thing is that it didn't hurt, and there isn't even a mark on that finger today. Hmm, weird.

Yesterday afternoon, we had three of my cousins over. I went and got McDonald's for everyone, and sat in the kitchen and ate with the kids. Much to my chagrin, they did not want to hear about the effects that stress has on the immune system, which was one of the things on the test. What a bunch of party poopers!!! These are the same cousins that I baby-sit for from time to time. I usually bring David with me, and if I don't, all I hear all evening is "Where's David? Are you mad at him? What do you mean you have a test? You could study for it, and he could play with us!" I told David once that the next time we are supposed to baby-sit, I'll drop him off at their house and leave. He didn't like that idea.

Well, I think I'm going to go veg out for a little while until my next class. Go make it a good one!