Sunday, October 10, 2010

Playoffs aren't just for sports

I finally worked on one of my papers and just finished it but not until after I let trying to figure out where I want to live consume me. Yes, I know I have until May before I gradute, but that's ONLY seven months!!! Actually it's now a little less than seven months, which it seems like a long time when I think about what all that has to happen between now and then---pass comps (ahhhhhhh!!!), pass the praxis, of course pass all my classes, finish my special project, and complete 400 clinic hours (ahhhhh again)! Seven months seems like not too long when I think about having to choose where I want to apply for a job. By where I'm just talking about choosing a state right now.

So earlier today I decided to look at different speech therapy clinics for children in different states. I have narrowed--and when I say narrowed take that term loosely--my decision down to six states. Yes, I realize that's a lot, but it's much fewer than 50 plus the District of Columbia. The six lucky states that have made it to the playoffs are... Arkansas, California, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. These are listed in alphabetical order so none can be seen as having a higher preference than another. I do have cities picked out in each of these states for the most part.

I have always researched the idea of being a traveling SLP. That throws in a whole game in my playoffs. Stay tuned to find out where gets knocked out...

Now I must get back to the regular programming of my life...schoolwork

Where has the weekend gone?

The weekend always seems to vanish in thin air. Yes, I realize it is still Sunday and not even quite the afternoon yet. The weekend is pretty much gone now though because I should spend the next 10 hours working on my papers for autism. What I should do and what I actually do are not always the same...I deserve to give myself I small pat on the back for working on my special project this morning.

My special project involves spelling and 3rd graders. Sounds exciting, right? It actually really does interest me, which is good considering I already have spent hours and will spend more hours working on it. We (my supervisor and I) are trying to determine a pattern in spellings of 3rd graders. By this I mean, do their mistakes happen more due to orthographic change, phonological change, both change, or no change. I realize that probably doesn't make too much sense to you, but I'll explain more when we have figured out the pattern(s).

Yesterday I spent my day watching SEC football (and let me tell you it was quite a day in the SEC) instead of working on those papers...Don't worry I took my laptop and books over to my friend Sarah's house to work on while I watched the game. Too bad my light pink Sony Vaio stayed in my Vera Bradley petal pink messenger bag. Good intentions count for something, right?

Those good intentions have been around all morning too, but somehow the news and sports seem to find themselves on my computer screen. Gee, I don't know how that's happening...

Friday, October 8, 2010

4 Weddings in 4 Weeks in 4 States...Whew!





I am so glad to be able to have done absolutely nothing tonight! Well I should have been working on my papers for my autism class...(instead I've been catching up on all the episodes for this season of America's Next Top Model and chatting on facebook.) I'm just enjoying not having to travel anywhere. I've been all over the place--Texas last weekend, California the weekend before, central Arkansas the two weekends before, and northwest Arkansas the weekend before. Three of these weekends were for weddings (the fourth was in Memphis, which I came back early Labor Day weekend) and two of these were for Razorback games. Don't get me wrong I thoroughly enjoyed all of these weekends, but it's nice staying put for a change. All the weddings were beautiful! I was even a groomslady at the wedding in Cali. That was definitely a trip of a lifetime, and I loved every minute!

"Staying put" is not a literal saying so someone on the autism spectrum would probably have a hard time understanding that. I think about autism pretty often. I try to think about how a person with autism (even high functioning)may feel in a situation...when I had a majorly delayed flight back from California, in the cafeteria with only kindergardners and first graders at the school I'm at for clinic, at football games when people are cheering, the list goes on and on. Last week when I was at the wedding in Texas, where I didn't know the guests, I at first felt like I was the opposite of somone with autism because I really wanted someone to talk to me. Then I start to think about all my quirky little characteristics that really are rather odd if you think about it...having to set an alarm or a microwave on a time ending with a 3 or 7, having an obssession with checking weather forecasts for lots of different places. Ok, I'll stop there. I mean we all really have some characteristics of autism...