3 Months In

Well, it's been almost 3 months since I've been hired on here at the group home! Reading over my 'Holy stress!' post makes me feel a lot better about where I'm at right now. Everything worked out with school; I am officially graduated and done with all my cleanup work for my bachelors. I ended up getting a B in statistics, which is better than what I was hoping for! 

In 5 days I'll have been here 3 months, and I have to say that I am learning a lot. It's been a great opportunity, and I am thankful that they are signing me on. Hello, benefits! That will be nice to have again, and I will get to go back to Kaiser Permanente, which is what I had with my parents while I was in Salem/at the beginning of living in PDX. I liked it because they were so big that all specialists were still with them and within network. 

School is over, softball is over, I disbanded the book club, I have a steady shift here and I'm not writing for the Vanguard (PSU's newspaper) anymore. So I am just working full time, and it's nice to actually be able to breathe and have a life again. I am getting to spend time with Robert and actually do fun activities with him and our friends. It feels good! 

United States of Tara

Robert and I started watching 'United States of Tara' on Netflix two nights ago. I'm totally hooked. It's really interesting to me since it's a lighthearted depiction of Dissociative Personality Disorder (formerly known as "Multiple Personality Disorder" but since reclassified). I'm sure it's nothing like what real DID is like, but it's fun and interesting nonetheless. It's also got a character who's in high school (maybe a freshman?) that is gay. It's the main characters son. She's accepting of him, though one of her "alters" (alternate personalities) isn't. It brings me back to when I was in high school and how I was crushing on guys that I couldn't have since they were straight and I wasn't out. This is a total trip down memory lane!

I'm excited to watch more of it. There are three seasons, so that'll be our show for a while along with 'True Blood'. We're in the last released season of that, though I think lately I've lost just a bit of steam on it. Probably because we just haven't been watching it that much. Once I watch another episode I'm sure I'll just get sucked right back in! Those shows definitely do that to me. lol.

Oceanography

I just got done with my Oceanography final and I nailed it. The prof said that he would take some questions off of the last two quizzes, so I pulled an all nighter last night and memorized both tests. Probably 90% of the questions were pulled off there, so I knew most everything. I was literally the first one done! I was worried that I might not pass the class but at this point I am pretty sure that I should be fine. I can finally take a deep breath when it comes to that class since it's over. What a good feeling! Now just a statistics final at 5:30PM and then a paper due on Thursday and I'm done with this term! I'm nervous about my final tonight; I really hope it goes well!

Spring Term

I just finished signing up for classes! My schedule (as it stands) should be as follows:

Geography Lecture TR 12-13:40

Health Psychology 14-15:50

Philosophy of Sex and Love TR 18:40-20:30

Geography Lab R 10-11:50

Statistics 244 MWF 12:45-15:50

With fingers crossed, this will be my last term here at PSU. I really need to pass my stats class for that to happen!

I feel so accomplished today!

I've:

- Showered

- Changed the laundry

- Paid my parking ticket

- Ordered checks

- Went food shopping

- Got the flea collar Rucifee needed

- Cleaned the microwave

- Cleaned the toaster

- Checked the mail

- Picked up a package from the office

- Watched 'Spanglish' (for my Race/Gender/Sexuality/Class in the US class)

I still want to:

- Go through my old mail

- Catch up on my journaling from this weekend

- Put away the clean laundry in my room

Research Asst.

I might have an "in" to be a research assistant at Portland State! I talked to the graduate T.A. in one of my classes today and she said that she would talk to the head of her research team for me. They are looking for more people to apply. The head wants more guys (since they only have one right now) and then someone that can make a year long commitment. I am a guy (whoot!) and I definitely can make the time commitment, so I am sending off a resume and a writing sample to her. That would be such an awesome break if I was able to assist and join their team. I know right now they are doing a study on juvenile sexual offenders and recidivism, which is something that I am definitely interested in. Then I could get some research experience and use this on a grad school application. It's only something that we talked about for a few minutes but I am crossing my fingers!

Lolita

I purchased 'Lolita' by Vladimir Nabokov a while ago on Amazon and have recently come across it again when my roommate rented a version of the film from Netflix. It rekindled my interest in reading the novel and I found it on one of my bookshelves. Has anyone read this? I know that it is supposed to be one of the greatest English novels of the 20th century and I am wondering what people think about it. I know there is a lot of controversy surrounding it and I have read a lot of passionate reviews online. I wish that my book club was reading it so I could have a real time discussion with it, but we are only focusing on gay themed books. This month we are reading 'The Married Man' by Edmund White, then in December we are reading 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil' by John Berendt. None of these are going to be light reads I'm thinking, though to be honest I really havent looked into Married Man yet. I'm excited to get to Lolita but with my book club, school and other books on my book list I don't know when I am going to be getting to it.

Math

I'm signing up for classes for next term. I wish there wasn't a 21 credit limit to how many we are allowed to take at a time. Though, to be honest, my hands are going to be full with the 18 that I am planning on taking. Of course Stats 243 is giving me a hassle in signing up for it. The math dept changed their requirements for signing up for classes this term (of course it would be this term) so you have to be retested within the last year to get into a math class. So now I have to go and take the placement test (yet again) before I can sign up for the class. How is it that signing up for classes is harder than the actual classes themselves?

Science

So there's a huge relief off my shoulders right now! I changed my science class from an A-F grading system to a Pass/No Pass option. Stupidly, I took Vertebrate Zoology thinking that it would be an easy science credit since I need to get a science course. It is the hardest class that I have taken! And I don't have time to drop it and take a different one next term. Everything in my schedule is fitting like a puzzle right now. I can't have anything messing up the order of things. Right now I've gotten an A and then a B on my two quizzes from lab, but the midterm tomorrow in the main class is going to be insanely hard. I'm at the library all day studying for it (and another midterm that I have tomorrow) so I cancelled my plans and I'm just camping out here. But now that I am just pass/not passing it, I'm way relieved. Either way it's not going to affect my GPA and I am still going to try to do my hardest.

Library

I'm totally addicted to the library. I have been here three days in a row now. They have dvds, books, magazines, newspapers and internet, and it's all free! How can you go wrong with that? I'm totally in love. And in the last two weeks I've read 3 books.

1. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

2. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

...and...

3. Triumph by Carolyn Jessop

I'm keeping a record of all the books that I read in my 'book jourrnal'. I know thats super nerdy but I love looking back over the list of books that I have read, along with their corresponding reviews. I've only kept it since January so there's only about 14 books in there. I've started 'Geisha, A Life', which is the memoir of a Geisha that actually had a lot to do with the development of Memoirs of a Geisha. She was the geiko (as the author calls herself) that Arthur Golden interviewed at length for his novel. I thought that it would be a lot more interesting but I am half way through it right now and I'm finding it pretty tedious and not that interesting. Either way, I will be on to another book by the end of the week. I want to read at least two a month, and at this rate I'll be doing much more than that. But school starts in about a month and that will defintely put a damper on leisure reading.

Any good recommendations for books that are your favorites?

My New Car

Thats the one! Here it's sitting in my mom's work parking lot. It's a stick so I was nervous to start driving it, but Mom gave me a lesson yesterday and I drove it back to Portland. She taught me for about 15 min in the Houck parking lot (my old middle school!) then I drove it right home. Of course I've killed it a couple times but I will get better with practice. My biggest problem is 1st, but I've heard that that is the hardest gear. After that it's easy peasy.

Feeling bien

Today I've been thinking about how i've been feeling recently. I feel like I am in a good place mentally. I have good friends, I have a plan for school, I am doing well in my classes this term, I have things to look forward to and I'm not stressed about being let go from Netflix. It was actually a really good thing. No more tension headaches, and I get to sleep in a lot more now! I will have to remember that I like to sleep once it comes time to sign up for Fall classes at school and plan classes to not being super early.

I think a huge contributor to feeling good is that I am taking my medication and my body is responding to it, plus I am taking vitamins and then a vitamin D supplement. And it's practically summer time and the sun can put me in a good mood no matter what. I love it when it's sunny outside! And since I have a pool I'll get some rays for sure.

Kurt and Em signed for an apt today! That's really exciting. Everyones moving! Pap is already down in Utah and Kurt is moving out to Stayton here in the next little bit. Then Mom is moving as soon as the house sells. The appraiser comes this week so they are making a list of everything that needs to be done.

In other news, theres only a week left of the term. I am way happy about that! I think I am going to do an accelerated summer class which is only one week for 4 psychology credits. Not bad at all, especially considering its an upper division course. I am officially a senior credit wise, but I will feel like one when this term gets over. Just one more year left until my BS!

B.A. to B.S.

So I went to an advising session at school today to see exactly where I stand with graduating. I have another year left, which is about what I thought. Major wise I can be done in one term but it's the other classes that are going to take longer. Junior inquiry and Senior capstone, etc. I am switching from a Bachelors of Arts to a Bachelors of Science though, which is something that had never really occurred to me to do. My math requirements are going to be met by the statistics classes that I have to take for my psy major anyway so thats not a big deal. And I would only need 8 more credits of science classes versus one more year of German. Plus I havent had German in almost two years so I am not going to be on par with anyone. I need 39 credits, which isnt a lot at all. Just three more full terms! And if I can do a Summer class then I could be even more ahead. So I am glad that I have everything laid out with what I need to do. It feels much better to have a plan rather than just wondering where I stand exactly.

Books this month

I am super glad that it's my Friday! I get to sleep in a bit longer tomorrow because school doesn't start until 10am when work usually starts at 8:30am. And then on Wednesday I hear it's supposed to be good weather and I have the day off from work and school. I am going to go to the park and read and then lay in the sun for a couple of hours. Ahh, it's going to be nice.

The book that I am going to start next is 'Gaining' by Aimee Lu. I've heard about this book from friends in the clinic and it's received good reviews online.

The other books that I've read this month have been:

'Church of Lies' by Flora Jessop. This was a Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint (Mormon fundamentalism) memoir on polygamy. I am really interested in polygamy through a Mormon fundamentalist view and so I snap up any memoirs I come across. Church of Lies mostly focused on Jessop's life after getting out of the community and her activism work rather than life in the church.

'Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia' by Marya Hornbacher. The title is self explanatory, but the book was amazing. I cannot believe that she wrote this when she was 23 years old; her story is so well written and her use of language is impressive. She has three other novels out, but none of them have to do with her eating disorder(s) so I think I will pass on those. For anyone who is interested in eating disorder memoirs, I would definitely recommend this one.

'Cult Insanity' by Irene Spencer. This was another memoir from a Mormon fundamentalist and polygamous background. Spencer had written Shattered Dreams (her first novel), which I very much enjoyed. This novel was a follow up to that that focused on Ervil LeBaron (her brother in law) and his rise to power/insanity. It wasn't as interesting as Shattered Dreams, because that was more of her personal life experience but I had wanted to read it so i am glad that I did.

So I am loving being back in school. I feel like I am accomplishing something and bettering myself rather than just existing and breaking even. My classes are interesting ones to me since I am taking all psychology ones and two of my classes even use the same book. Plus my friend Carolyn had the book and so she's letting me borrow it this term. Score, huh? That's already 2/3 of my books taken care of without spending a penny. Obviously I'll treat her out to Thai as a thank you.

I love being around all the people my age who are wearing cool clothes, doing sports and studying lots of different things. You have the jocks in their sweats with lacrosse sticks, women in burqas, people chatting in foreign languages and everyone with eclectic Portland fashions. I am meeting people in my classes and say "hi" to the friends that I see on campus. There are 27,000 students that go there though so you can imagine I don't see a ton [PSU stats here]. ;)

My goal is to get a 4.0 this term. I held a 4.0 through my Associates so it's definitely something that I can do. Wish me luck!

Classes

I signed up for classes at PSU for Spring term. Woot! I am looking forward for classes starting this week. I am only going Tue/Thur because that's what I was able to finagle with my work schedule.

My school schedule is:

10:00am-11:50am Social relationships and Groups [psy]
12:00pm-1:50pm Self, Attitudes & Influence [psy]
2:00pm-3:50pm Into to psychopathology [psy]

It's not hard to guess what my major is with a schedule like this. lol. I am excited because it's all psychology, and I even have a class with Katy (S, A & I). Then we get out at the same time so we can work out after school. I am so glad to be in school and investing in my future rather than just working. Both will be full time so it'll keep me busy and out of trouble (for the most part). lol.