4 Aug 2009

this is sooo not worth reading, I promise my next post will be more worthy

Today was a busy day. I feel like blabbering (typing relaxes me) so I'm hitting every excruciating detail…with specific names for once!! If you get annoyed by rambles, don't read this. 

I spoke to vet/People's Pharmacy and they called in chloropirenanemamamenenane… maleate (antihistamine) for my cat in tuna flavored treats! I'm skeptical it will work as Lester has kind of figured out pill pockets, but we'll see. People's Pharmacy is awesome – it kind of specializes with bizarre orders and then also does a lot of vet stuff too – they can turn drugs into ear gels to be absorbed, or treats, or probably other things too. 
Also called a few other places, called Georgia State Board of OT repeatedly (never an answer, not evening answering machine…must research this), got forms ready, went to Total Body Conditioning at the UT gym and almost DIED but it was a good workout. I get severe neck/jaw/ear pain when I exercise at high intensity, so bad I have to stop and wait for my heart rate to go down (it can get to 200+ in just a few minutes) as it hurts so much….I came home glad I worked out but discouraged & remembering why I tend not to exercise hard! Googled it again and stuff for TMJ popped up! My twin sister had to have TMJ surgery in her teens, where they took bone out of her hip. Then she had a wired shut mouth for a while. I remember one time Dad made her a meat (dinner) milkshake and I laughed and she cried. Oh the memories. I digress. Anyway, 
I was like, dude. It fits, all the chronic headaches and how my jaw locks sometimes, and the pain…so decide I need a cheap-o massage from MassageEnvy, a TMJ massage…so I call them and get a TMJ massage set up for a while later. 
Go to post office with letters to send out – police reports for identity theft, plus letters + checks to NBCOT and Tennessee State Board of OT, to send stuff to Georgia. Realize I forgot wallet at home, very unlike me and very annoying!!. Had stamps with me though. I put $1.21 on one of them instead of $1.22, by accident – I was trying to figure out 94 cents + 27 cents and was flustered by a homeless guy asking me for money. [I doubt he believed I forgot my wallet!!] I wonder if they'll send it back to me because of that one penny. Hmm.
Go home for wallet. Go to MassageEnvy. Get TMJ massage. Massage lady tells me that health professionals make up most of her clientele, especially nurses, and that she sees 3 OTs. I was surprised at that.
Go to notary place #1 [drug store Ike's, get passport photo too. Helpful]. Notary gone. Go to #2 [drug store Super D, lady very helpful]. Notary gone for two days. Go to Notary #3 [Wiles-Smith drug store]. Dude says he requires TWO forms of government ID and I only had one. I don't like carry my passport around with me and its unsafe to carry your SS card!! He was unsmiling, I didn't like him! Finally went to Notary #4, Mail Center on Madison, and they were very nice and signed my Georgia licensure form. FINALLY. [Note: Fedex-Kinkos in Midtown doesn't have a notary anymore, and I don't have a local bank, so those weren't options!]
Also pick up a very late lunch at Sean's Cafe [yum meditterean], and a drawing book at the Art Center. I'm going to learn depth perspectives so I can make my poppy field painting!!! And now I am home and worn out but have a lot more to do soon! At least Georgia licensure stuff is well on its way to being completed, paperwork wise…it may still take 6 weeks plus before all is intact…but I can work as a tech until licensure comes through. 
I paid approximately $100ish? for Tennessee OT licensure which I have never used…now I am having to start over with GA licensure…it cost me $25 to get my TN license verification sent to GA, $55 to get NBCOT score to GA, $5 notary, $8.00 passport photo, and then a few other random expenses. It adds up! 
I've got one professional reference and one personal reference figured out…and have one more professional reference to beg for. It's easy, all they have to do is sign a premade form attesting to my moral character, but the downside is that it has to be notarized, which is a pain for my references! 
Lester is pretending to be Monorail Cat on top of my chair…I reinforce all his bad behaviors. At this point he has learned to sit by his food bowl and cry piteously until I make him up some catfood broth. (He ignores the hard kibble sitting next to him of course). I always give in when he gets loud. That's so wrong of me from a conditioning standpoint!
I've been researching art stuff…I just made my first knotted lariat and I am very proud. I was looking at ways to make cheap beads out of recyclables, and I made a few test beads out of paper….where you basically just roll little strips of paper very tight and secure with glue. Can be very interesting looking. Potentially a good OT project or maybe even sheltered workshop kinda thing…
Also a way to make neat plastic beads using old water bottle strips, using a heat gun…gotta experiment with that too. All of this gets filed somewhere in my mental OT toolbox to be graded up/down…
Well, I'm more relaxed after a busy day since I was able to type it all out and get it out of my brain…if anyone actually read this entire thing, I applaud your bravery. I typically try not to make such long rambly posts but sometimes you just have to make an exception. My brain was so jumbled up and now it's empty. 
Ok…off to do a combination of boring chores/important errands/random artwork/Lester adoring/blog catch-up…
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none

2 Aug 2009

Random OT/life babble

This weekend I've gotten to see friends & exercise & paint (poorly) & watch movies & pack up some more! I rarely watch movies and these days I very rarely pull out my art supplies, so those were both nice bonuses. My living room continues to look disastrous but it is coming along…and Lester is starting to feel better! 

Tommorow my goals are to see some friends, exercise, paint (I'm trying to learn how to do a landscape with two point perspective, ack), watch a movie, and continue working on packing up. My mainest (lol) goal tomorrow is to get some important paperwork ready to go out Monday morning. That includes preparation for vital Georgia OT licensure documents! 
This upcoming week I just need to continue getting ducks in a row in preparation for the move, while trying to remain healthy about it all and not get too stressed. About 3 weeks left in Memphis. Wow. It doesn't feel real to be moving. It just feels like I'm going on a trip somehow. 
I need to go ahead and set up a few shadow sessions while I'm in Memphis to kind of refresh my OT brain. I do a lot of OT reading and all, but in terms of being in a clinic, I haven't set foot in one since late March! 
It's almost 1am so I guess I'm going to head to bed. Lester is mewing like a plantain. Haha, that cracked me up way more than it should. Anyway. Good night from an OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST!!!! Not a student anymore!!! Sooo weird. 
PS: Blog wise, I might transition to OT Connections…it's getting more user friendly! 
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 2