I need a shout-out, yo

I just checked my stats. My readership is relatively steady, that’s cool. But I really have no idea if people get ANYTHING out of reading this. (I guess I’d write this for myself regardless, so nannynannybooboo). If you are a lurker or even a regular reader, please de-lurk and tell me if there are things you want me to change or talk more about (but don’t ask me to be concise, that’s impossible). A little feedback could perhaps help me take this blog in a new direction…I won’t cry if you give me constructive criticism, I promise. Ok, maybe I will, but I’m going to work on that in my new Group class. Just kidding….

Day 3: Better day!

Whew, today was a way better day than Tuesday! Really long though!

By the way, I have recently skimmed a bunch of articles on how to increase blog readership. One of the issues mentioned was to be concise. I pondered over this because let's face it, I don't have a brevity bone. I decided that while I worked hard in June to build up this blog, my current function while back in school is just to spill out my thoughts. I type very quickly and just pour out what's in my brain, both for my own memory-keeping and for others to maybe get a glimpse into the occupational therapy student world. I don't have the time to sit here and edit my thoughts to be concise, so uh, yeah. Sorry. And see, I just took a paragraph to explain I would not be concise…

Today was a 8 to 5 day with an hour for lunch. We started with the class involving neurological impairment and it was so fascinating to learn about how spinal cord injury patients function when it comes to activities of daily life. Things like bladder and bowel care are SO much harder, it's amazing what we all take for granted. We learned how C6 and above patients, who don't have use of their hand muscles but do have wrist extensors, can use the anatomical phenomenon of tenodesis (sp) to pick items up (basically how extending your wrist opens your hand and dropping your wrist closes it…try it!). Anyway, it reminded me of the book I read recently called Miracles Happen, about the first ventilator-dependent quadriplegic to graduate from Harvard, and her story about a car accident changing her life at age 11. Very interesting stuff and our professor is so knowledgeable and had tons of great very uh, vivid pictures. He's been an OT over 50 years now so he has a lot of experience to share with us.

After that we had FOUR HOURS of discussion/lecture of our newest class, which is all about Group Practice! We will get to facilitate groups on certain topics, and just in general learn how to use group therapy effectively as an OT. But more importantly, we learn about our own strengths and weaknesses and are forced to confront them. Our professor pointed out that if we are going to fall on our face, it is better it happens in school instead of in a real clinic. True. I already know some major things I need to work on. Like 1, I cry immediately when frustrated, 2, I take any criticism VERY personally and it hurts my feelings, 3, I am afraid of conflict and have no assertiveness when it comes to confronting people. Etc. I am a little scared because I think dealing with my issues will be hard, but I am also thrilled that perhaps I'll come out of this class with new tools to face problems that may affect me as an OT…as well as in my personal life.

Then it was time for a class on visitable/accessible environments, where we learned about ratios, like 1:50 for ramps, how wide doorways should be, lamp glare, carpets, adaptive living, all sorts of things. Also FASCINATING and we didn't get far into the lecture because everyone kept on chiming in with stuff since it was so interesting and we all had so many thoughts. I was thinking a lot about my mom's roommate who is Deaf-Blind and some of his accommodations, and also trying to figure out how my own apartment would work for someone with a handicap. In fact, one of the projects we get to do involves doing some home adaptation on a budget!

Today, everything we learned was so cool. I really was thinking oh, I could write an entire post on this, or an entire post on this, or this, or this, or this…but obviously there is not enough time in the day. Classes ended at 5pm, I got home and called a friend, then another friend called I was supposed to meet, then an OT girl called to rant and then my other friend called, etc, then I got an email from the cashier's office about a registration error (terror, it is hopefully a computer glitch…) anyway…then I met a friend to quickly eat a healthy meal before we went walking on the track for 2 miles. Came home, talked to another OT girl, then another OT girl…I talked to at least five different OT girls tonight. By then it was already 9pm and I did a few quick weights and jumped in the shower before another OT girl called. I just quickly looked in my binder to make sure I didn't have much to do for tomorrow since um, I'm tired. Now it's 1015pm and I am going to blow-dry my hair then go to bed. Although I'm kind of keyed up since I've been on the go ALL day long. I've had energy to spare today. I was doing lunges and wall slides during our breaks!

Last night I worked my shift until midnight and then my left wrist stayed numb and tingling for several hours so I didn't actually get to sleep until close to 2. Had to be up at 640 so I guess I was delirious from sleep deprivation and it appeared as an overload of energy, I dunno. I am pretty sure I have carpal tunnel syndrome in my left hand (my dominant hand) and I'm concerned. Luckily we had splinting last semester and my partner made me a resting hand splint, so I guess I'll be using that!

Ok, this is getting really long but this is how I relax, spilling my thoughts, so bear with me. I know I've talked about this before ad nauseum, but there are truly no words to describe how fun it is to be in classes with friends! Getting to glance at friends or occasionally write notes (ooh bad me) and hang out during lunch is so much fun. I think most people have experienced that kind of fun their entire life, but since it is new to me at age 24 it is like DISNEYLAND. Last semester and in general I used to always just read during breaks because I rarely had someone to talk to, but now I'm like hmm, I can study later, now is for hanging out! One girl in the class,(dontworryIwontuseyournameAllison) made me laugh so hard I cried today. That's what OT school is all about. Being stressed, being tired, but LOVING the material and LOVING your classmates.

Tomorrow we only have class from 930 to 4, so yay! I can catch up tomorrow on any readings and other things I should be working on instead of writing on this blog. But hey, we are all supposed to have a balance of occupations….this is my leisure time!

Good night!!

Day 2: Good lectures, but administratively STRESSFUL!

AUGH!

I’m glad yesterday was a good day, but I found today to be very stressful. Only the second day too, bad sign! There were a few fun classes but also a lot of drama and some anger.

Class was only from 10-4 today, and started with a Neuro class on spinal cord injuries. We saw some really gruesome pictures of bedsores and learned some interesting information. I have had a lot of neuro education in both undergrad and now OT school, but it just doesn’t stick with me – I just don’t “get” it very well. I get it well enough to get an A on a test, but then I forget it because it was only due to memorization of things I didn’t understand. Had lunch, then it was time for a psychiatrist to speak about mental health issues. He was so amazing. I wanted to adopt him as my grandfather. He spoke in the kind of voice you hear on audio-books, gentle and kind. He seemed like the stereotypical pipe-smoking older man rocking in front of the fire, although only in the sense that he was comforting. But the things he spoke of were also really depressing at times! It kinda made me want to cry! At one point he said suicide and homicide are preceded by the same symptoms – only the direction the gun was pointing was the difference. A lot of suicides are also immediately preceded by a homicide. He spoke for two hours and was great. He had a little trouble getting used to the fact that some of our class was across the state and live via TV monitors – he’d stare into the TV screen and mutter “Great Scott!”. It was hilarious. He was such a good speaker.

THEN it was time for a class meeting, and some drama (manageable due to our fantastic class president) ensued. Group projects are a big deal because nobody wants to be with people that won’t do their share or don’t have the same “vision” when it comes to grades. Anyway, most of us were in groups we were happy with, but it turned out the professor wanted us to be in groups different than last semester. That’s understandable, although there was a mini class argument on how to go about changing up the groups. We decided on picking names out of a hat. My new group is fine, but it was still a stressful experience!

Then we had another speaker come in, a neurosurgeon. She spoke about traumatic brain injuries and gave us background on them, and also a little bit about OT’s role in working with such patients. Again, pretty interesting. Makes me want to wrap myself in bubble wrap though and never move again, after hearing about some of the horrible things that happen to people! I really like having visiting speakers because it gives us different insights!

I really enjoyed the lectures today and found them interesting. The group project drama was a little stressful, but the most stressful thing involves our class schedule and last-minute changes that have really affected our own personal plans. I originally wrote out a long detailed rant on this, but sat on it a few minutes and realized I shouldn’t post the rant. I’m trying to keep some modicum of professionalism for the sake of any of my professors who may be reading this. It’s hard though, y’all have no idea how much self-control it is taking me to not share! Augh!

So I just got home a few minutes ago (a rainy day doesn’t help things) and decided to type up this rant, which I then sent to myself for prosperity before deleting 99.9% of it for this post. Now I’m going to go play some calming music and do some breathing/yoga exercises, because as my OT friend Brooke would say, “I’m on fire!”

After that, I have some reading to do before I work tonight from 9pm to midnight. Augh again. Back tomorrow with hopefully better news and a calmer attitude…

My first day back…I survived!

I survived my first day back in school. It was a long day, 8 to 4pm with only 30 minutes for lunch due to a class/staff meeting. (Sounds like the real world…horrors!) We are focusing on adulthood this semester, and it will be interesting. We will get to learn more about wheelchairs, physical dysfunction, psychiatry, technology, home adaptations, neurological impairments, and more. It excites me because historically, I have observed OTs dealing with wheelchairs and always feel stupid that I don't know what's going on. I guess I always assume people absorb knowledge magically and something is wrong with me if I don't also magically have that knowledge base. Now that I'm seeing our line-up of classes and topics, I'm realizing…uh…yeah…it's not magical.

Today we had a lecturer come in and discuss Work Hardening. This is a fascinating subject to me because of the psychology involved in figuring out who is faking and who is not, who has motivation and why, etc. It seems like you have to be a pretty tough personality to deal with some of the more challenging cases. We have about ten thousand presentations to make in this upcoming semester, and several of them are really long. Of course, every project/presentation we have involves a group project. There was a flurry of drama as everybody tried to get in groups with people they were comfortable with, either due to friendship or knowledge of good work ethics. Some days it seems like it is better if we are just assigned groups, but then there are always people angry they got stuck with others they didn't like. Yet when we have to pick our own groups, drama ensues, so I guess either way has its pros and cons.

Even though it was no fun getting up early and being overwhelmed by all our projects, it WAS fun to get to see everyone. It felt like we had never left. Plus our classroom got some great technology enhancements while we were gone, to help make it easier to work with the distance learning component (some of our class is across the state and interacts with us live on TV monitors). After class I printed out a bunch of stuff, went home and checked my email and called my friend, then went back to school to go to yoga with another OT girl. We had a good time and now I'm home, showered, and relaxing here for a few minutes. Decompressing by writing out my thoughts. Then I'll start reading parts of the DSM-IV-TR in preparation for a psychiatry lecture tomorrow. I'm surprisingly unstressed. I'm honestly normally easily stressed out and anxiety-ridden, but I feel good today. Not too tired, ready to tackle the work. Of course in a day or two I'll be moaning about how stressed I am, so I'll enjoy the feeling while it lasts!

If anyone wants to post their thoughts on their own OT/OTS experiences, I'd be happy to put it up. Just e-mail me!

Augh!! Classes start tomorrow!

Classes start again at 8am Monday morning! I'm scared! I've gotten so used to having a leisurely break that the thought of diving back into stress and sleep-deprivation doesn't appeal to me right now. I guess in a few days I'll forget that it was any different and go back to loving OT school.

Augh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My grandmother is a flamingo: A mini geriatric occupational profile

My paternal grandmother and I have always been very close. My grandfather died last year in August, and she has had a rough time adjusting to living alone and being without him, after over 50 years of marriage. She ended up going to Norway with me a few months after he died, and we spent several wonderful weeks there visiting my old host family/friends. During our trip I had a critical-OT-eye, watching how she appeared physically and mentally. She had pretty typical geriatric issues, such as trouble fumbling with pill caps due to her knobby arthritic fingers. She’s had knee-replacements so stairs are hard for her. She forgets thing a lot. I brainstormed furiously during my trip for ways to help her deal with these things. Some things I could help her with, other things I couldn’t – I hadn’t even started OT school then so I was only operating from a concerned granddaughter/OT-observation-only kind of standpoint. While I doubt I would work in geriatrics long-term, I look forward to our third, geriatrics-heavy semester because it means things I can help her with. (My maternal grandfather is still alive and so I don’t mean to ignore him in this post but he doesn’t have any visible issues!)

Grandma is lucky to have 7 children, several of whom live nearby, and 25 grandchildren, so she definitely gets help. She still drives and takes some senior exercises at the YMCA, including a “drum” class where they beat on balls. She really likes that class. She has two issues we’ve discussed lately that bother her – one unresolved, one getting resolved.

The first is that she gets a HUGE amount of snail-mail daily. The three weeks of mail I had waiting for me when I got back last week were the equivalent of one day for her. It covers her dining room table in a huge mountain and takes her a good part of the day to go through it, if she even manages to get it done. Most of it is from charities. She tends to send $10 checks to every charity that asks, so that adds up to a LOT of junk-mail (not to mention her CPA wants to tear his hair out, but that’s another story.) Anyway, dealing with this mail is a huge burden for her. She knows, realistically, that if she stopped sending checks to all the different charities, it would help, but she just can’t help herself. She opens those mails with those poor starving orphans and just feels driven. We’ve all told her not to but she still struggles. It’s been an ongoing issue for a long time.

Today, she called me and we talked for a while. She was having a rough week, loneliness-wise. She mentioned her mail again and we discussed the charity issue again. She talked about how she just wanted to help them all, and how one of her friends told her to just do a Hail Mary as she put the charity requests in the trash (she’s very religious) . I suggested that she make a charity corner each day (since she might literally get about 20+ requests a day for money), not open any of the envelopes at all so she can’t be broken, and then do her rosary that day for all the different charities…and then throw the requests away or shred them, unopened. She actually seemed to like the idea that A) she could just not open them, and B) her guilt could be somewhat assuaged with a rosary. I also told her I’d check online to see different ways I could get her off mailing lists.

One of her other issues involves balance. She’s sometimes unsteady and could definitely use some balance work. She’s been going to her senior exercise classes which help a lot. She also has been putting one hand on a chair and then standing on one foot (hence the title of this post) for a little while. I had suggested it to her months ago (I did warn her to start out with someone nearby in case it was harder than she expected). She was telling me she thinks it’s really been helping her balance. I was happy to hear that although I think it’s probably mostly from her exercise classes. Regardless, she has become more steady, and that has been confirmed by several of her children.

I guess this ended up becoming a mini-geriatric occupational profile. I really just wanted to talk about how I want to try and use my budding OT knowledge to help my grandma out, and I guess I got out of control!

The picture above is of us in Norway this past October. The picture below I took at one of their famous parks in Oslo.

My boring day, sorry…a better post tomorrow

I’m trying to post daily so I stay in the habit and keep up my bloggy presence, even when I don’t have much to say or don’t have time to think up a long post. I type well over 100 WPM so I swear that even if this post ends up long it only took me a few minutes, since it doesn’t require any thinking.

So just a quick blurb on what all I did today as I get ready to start back up in school, I’ll try to post something with more depth (ie not so boring) tomorrow. This morning, went up to the university again to print more and buy a few books – one on group dynamics, one on research, one on physical dysfunction. Saw Virginia (OT). Worked out. Went to lunch with an OT friend a year ahead of me who just started her clinical rotations. She reassured me in some ways and gave me nightmares in others with her tales. Then Brooke (OT) walked up to our lunch date because she was in the same area to go wedding-dress shopping with a friend. Small world. Went to the mall to buy some clothes on sale. Went to Super Target for needed stuff. Went to a Skate Shop to see if they could fix my snake board (couldn’t, too obscure). Hurried back west as storm was brewing. Went to eye doc to see about an appt. Called my university’s insurance and got bad news about their prescription coverage (ridiculous). Did 2 loads of laundry at landlord’s. Now working a shift until midnight. Oh, and organized probably 500 pages of notes for the semester into binders. That was immensely enjoyable, hole-punching it all…I’m slightly overwhelmed by our schedule and all the different syllabi, but I guess it always seems worse than it is. Even though I love OT school I’m already stressed out thinking about all the work!

Merrolee, oh so famed OT educator in New Zealand leading the OT Web2.0 revolution, recently sent me an article called “Culture, Theory, and the Practice of Occupational Therapy in New Zealand/Aotearoa” by Kaja Jungersen. It was published in a 1992 AJOT. I’ve only skimmed it so far but my initial reaction is A) it reminded me of my anthropology class from undergrad, and B) its discussion of the Maori culture sounds a lot like the American equivalent of Native Americans in that their indigenous culture was marginalized. The article discusses models and ways for OTs to deal with marginalized cultures (well specifically Maori but the results can be generalized). I need to read it more closely before I write anymore about it though.

So that’s it. My boring but busy day and a quick glimpse into NZ culture. Back to work…

My experience with burncare (and a little bit of randomosity)

Today I went to the university to print out the notes for the various classes coming up. I think I used up about six trees doing so and it took me almost an hour and I still didn’t finish. I also went clothes shopping since I was badly in need of some new stuff. I had to call Brooke (OT girl) from the mall and ask if Bermuda shorts were still cool. I’m so out of the know in the fashion world. Took a friend swimming and got rained on near the end, it was quite the adventure. Then went to another friends and had REALLY YUMMY beef brisket sandwiches for dinner. Plus they have new chickens and a tame cat, so the chickens & cat were chilling out together. It was fun to watch. After dinner, they told me they had this special homemade ice cream they wanted me to try. They just stuck a spoon in it and said here, try. Well, I was expecting GOOD ice cream and the second it hit my mouth I realized it was not. I had to spit it out and rinse my tongue under the faucet. It was their roasted garlic ice cream, which they thought would taste good but didn’t. Instead of throwing it out after they realized how gross it was, they froze it just so I would have to try it the next time I saw them, their unsuspecting victim. Ew. To make up for it they gave me a caramel brownie. Now I’m home and about to start reading my newly printed OT documents. Okay, on to OT stuff. I wrote the following a few days ago, which is based on an experience I had months ago.

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In the last semester, I got to watch a physical therapist do burn care one time. I know that there are not many OTs who do participate in taking care of burns, but it is still a specialty, so I wanted to share my own experience so that maybe it will help future OT students know some of the things they should be prepared for. I’ve decided HIPAA-vague stories are no fun to read, so I’m going a different route and making ****COMPLETELY fictional characters*** with absolutely no resemblance to who I saw in anyway. Their story is different too. The ONLY thing I’m not changing in this and future stories are my own reactions and feelings, which were pretty intense on this day. The procedure described is routine for burn care.
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My understanding is that many pediatric hospitals have special burn-care rooms. This one was beautiful, with a ceiling full of stars. They do conscious sedation in there when dealing with debridement of burn-wounds and re-bandaging. The day I walked in, I had no clue what to expect since it had actually been a last-minute decision by the therapists to allow me to see it if I wanted to. I said sure and didn’t think twice. I was ushered into a room that was small and filled with people involved in burn-care. A beautiful little girl named Kayla was waiting with her mother. The little girl had been scalded on her leg by hot tap water when sitting on the side of the kitchen sink with her mother, who had not realized how hot the water could get. Kayla’s wound was bandaged and it needed to be examined and debrided. Apparently the little girl had already been given one drug (Versed), but as is routine procedure, Kayla was also given an IV that helped finish off the job of conscious sedation. She of course shrieked when the needle went in, which scared me since I hadn’t realized that was going on at the time. It reminded me of the scene in the Poisonwood Bible when the baby of the family, Ruth, gets bitten by a poisonous snake.

After Kayla had gone limp, she was put on the burn-care table. Her eyes were glassy and she was just completely…gone. It reminded me very much of how my beloved cat, Nikki, had looked when I had to have her put down last summer. After the vets had given her the amnesiac/sedative but before they finished the job, they had let me hold her. I had held her limp body, her eyes glassy and open, and sobbed hysterically. It was one of the worst experiences of my life. (Ok, full disclosure, I’m actually again crying right now thinking of it.) Tears came to my eyes in the burn room because I was reminded of how Nikki had looked (still fresh in my mind from a few months earlier), and also scared me for Kayla. I had not realized conscious sedation would mean they wouldn’t just look like they were “sleeping”.

As the PT and others began to work over Kayla, I watched intently. I had been warned that if I felt dizzy I should sit down but not try to leave. This was partially because they did not want somebody passing out where they couldn’t see them, but I’m going to assume that someone rushing out the door in a small area could potentially blow particles or items onto the open wound by accident, too. As they began cutting away dead flesh and just in general working on debridement, I began to feel sick to my stomach. Not in a throw-up way, just horrified at what I was seeing. They were performing a perfectly routine procedure, going by the book and doing nothing wrong, it just disturbed me to think about the pain associated with burns. I should have known I would feel this way since earlier, when I had seen a newborn being probed with a needle for a blood draw, I had also felt temporarily sick. And it just got worse. I knew I couldn’t leave, so I started to feel trapped. And then I started to sweat. I was getting really, really, really hot. Oh no, that meant I must be having a panic attack. I hadn”t had one in many years. I was desperate to get out of that room into some cool air, to not be trapped watching wound debridement. I knew I couldn’t do anything. I was determined not to make a scene. It would ruin it for future OT students, not to mention make me look bad in that particular instance. Plus, the mother was there. The focus needed to rightfully be on Kayla, not on a freaked out student.

I quietly sat down and turned my head away so I could no longer see what was going on. I cried silently, tears rolling down my cheeks. I was petrified and felt I would pass out if I wasn’t careful. I was fighting the feeling so that I would not cause a disturbance. A nurse who was near me due to the crowded room asked quietly if I was ok, and I nodded. I told her I was fine, just scared. She said that was perfectly normal and that I did the right thing by sitting down. I found out later a lot of students HAVE passed out in there, so my reaction was not that extreme. Luckily Kayla’s burn was not that extensive so the procedure didn’t take too long. Once they started re-bandaging her, I no longer felt so bad. I stood up and observed again and pretended everything was fine. I just felt sheepish because I really thought I could handle it without a problem, so I was kind of mad at myself for doing so poorly. So here are some things you should be prepared for, at least based on my one experience.

1. The child will probably suddenly cry or scream when they get the IV put in. Be aware that’s going to happen (so many people are in the room you can’t see everything) so you aren’t too startled.

2. Be prepared for how the child will look during conscious sedation, since it’s not like sleeping. For me personally, it was worse than looking at a cadaver, but it might not bother most people.

3. They have to keep the room really, really hot because burn victims don’t have skin on the burns. Skin is needed to keep in body heat. So realize you are just hot because it IS hot, not necessarily because you think your body is telling you something.

So..overall, even though it was a horrible experience for me, it was still a good learni
ng experience and fascinating. Nobody did anything wrong, I just didn’t know what to expect and it turned out different factors colluded to make it an unpleasant one. I think if I had known more, I could have handled it differently. Although I don’t think burn care will ever be my passion!

In OT Land, every day is Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July! Or even more importantly, Happy Independence Day!

I shared in an earlier post the T-shirt slogan I found on cafepress.com that said “OTs make every day Independence day”.

I like that shirt because it emphasizes what most non-OTs forget. If you asked an average person (assuming they have even heard of OT) what OTs did, they might say OTs work with upper-body, or maybe that they deal with daily life activities. Yet our ability to facilitate independence is one of our most prized and important skills and we need to emphasize that!

So remember…in the OT world, every day is Independence Day!

Update at 1030pm before bed: Today I headed out with friends Paul & Angela to her parents’ house. We had beef brisket, ribs, homemade barbecue sauce, grilled corn on the cob, green beans, watermelon, bread, cucumbers and tomato, coleslaw, and grilled sweet potatoes. Pretty decadent. Red velvet cake and lemon pie for dessert. Yum! Then I went to the track where I got my undergraduate degree, and walked for a few miles. I was alone on the track and it was kind of melancholy, looking at the beautiful buildings on the tranquil campus. I miss my time there – I like my MOT program just fine, but there is a big difference between the campus of a private liberal arts college and the bustling, industrial campus of a large university in a downtown area!

My random day…

I so badly just want to share exactly what I experienced today in Feeding Group. Too bad I can’t. I’m shaking my fist at a HIPAA-colored sky.

Basically, I got to document how a child reacts when a food is first presented to them, and how they react after a few minutes. It’s fascinating to see what different children tolerate, and how parents interact with their children in trying to get them to eat. The therapists were great! It was really cool to watch. I asked a therapist if the children were orally hypo or hypersensitive if they preferred hard crunchies to soft things. My understanding was some children needed the hard crunchies to give them boundaries due to their HYPOsensitivity. She said they often prefer the crunchies due to being HYPERsensitive and it just depends on the child. Hmm, a “sticky” question…?

Then I went to Virginia’s birthday lunch. Brooke and another OT girl were present. It was at a delicious Italian restaurant. It was fun!

Then I headed to another hospital to do database entry. The computers I use are in the PT office, so I got to chat with one of their PTs who was procrastinating on her note dictation. I asked her if she felt like her job ever got easier. She said mostly not, she just has more confidence now than she did 5 years ago when she graduated.

Now I’m waiting to go work out/eat and just relaxing, so I’m just going to ramble.

Three odd things have happened in the last few days.
1. I was driving behind a girl on a motorcycle. She was wearing backpack that had an undone zipper. Suddenly a bright red pepper tumbled onto the road, an explosion of red. I felt like I was in a scene from a foreign movie.
2. As I was about to get into my car in a parking garage today, a woman was trying to get into the passenger seat of the van next to me. But her shoelace was stuck in the side of her door somehow, and so I untangled this stranger’s shoelace.
3. When I tried to leave my house this morning I was blocked by a big spiderweb blocking the entire walkway. I’m as terrified of spiderwebs as spiders so I had to go back inside, get a broom, and rip it down while shuddering in disgust. Ew.
Update: I have to add a #4. I was out walking with my friend tonight when we walked past a couple with their dog. The dog seemed nice until right after they passed us because then he turned and bit my friend on the butt. Luckily not that hard. But that’s pretty weird.

Ok I’m headed out. I work tonight and if it gets slow I may end up dreaming up another post, I have lots of ideas which came to me around 3am last night. That might be a sign of insanity, I’m not sure. I promise my next post will be all professional and OT-like.

SIX MORE DAYS UNTIL CLASSES START!