so is there some sort of law that says the beginning of a new year has to be insanely busy? i feel like i've been on the go constantly... sure could do with some time off. but wait, what's that? i'm getting some? you don't say! my wonderful parents have splurged on a family trip to the dominican, so i'll be sitting on a beach doing absolutely nothing for an entire week. it's gonna be rad.

 

my job's kept me busy, as usual. the schizophrenic lady threw a birthday party for my aunt, but as my aunt's still in hawaii the only guests to the birthday party were me and mike. she still loved it, we ate birthday cake and cheesies and watched charlie and the chocolate factory. she liked the oompa loompa songs so much she got up and danced along. i took my other resident out to breakfast and bowling, and i lost spectacularly, i think my high score was 71. we won't talk about my low score.

 

in the other house, things are rocky. the old dude's on a med change and he has ringworm, so he's been testy and screaming lately. the young guy's becoming more and more unmanageable, throwing his bed around his room (yes, his bed. not his bedDING, his bed.), trying to eat through the glass on his window, pulling his penis out in the middle of walmart, trying to push TV units out the window... and from that he goes to laughing and happy in the space of about 5 minutes. and ten minutes later he's the resident from hell again. all because his parents refuse to allow ANY meds whatsoever, except for those which control his seizures. i'm not big on meds myself, but he can't function without them. period. his quality of life could be improved amazingly just by giving him a low level mood stablilzer. we've had to remove everything from his room except for his bed (we've taken the wheels and headboard off) and an armoire that's bolted to the wall so he can't pull it down on top of himself. it sucks. i can't imagine what he has to go through every day, with such extreme mood swings and a bare room. the good news is, the society's making inroads for him. they've set up a committe to meet with everyone involved (parents, caregivers, representatives from different societies) to address all these issues. i'm keeping all my fingers and toes crossed that something they can work something out for him.

 

since i kicked the cold that kept me sick for half of january, i've finally got together with amanda again... her new favourite activity has become "beating up mike". i find it amusing to watch a nine year old girl whacking my man with a pillow. call me sadistic, but i laugh my ass off. she's doing awesome in school, i'm so proud of her. she showed me some poems she'd written for her english class, and i know 20 year olds who write worse than her! so yeah, definitely a smart little kid. she's always asking me to explain stuff for her, last time it was how time differences work across the country.

 

speaking of kids, i've also interviewed for a part-time, hopefully weekday job working with a 5 year old boy who has autism and down's syndrome. it's a behaviour therapy program (ABA for any psych kids out there) and it's what i originally wanted to get into, back when i was starting to apply for psych-related jobs. the little guy is adorable, so sweet and he seems to really enjoy the therapy. i got to witness one of the sessions, and they invited me to run a few trials myself. it was great. i'd love for it to work out... hate waiting for the call!

 

january and february have been damn busy... still managed to get mike up to see the home mountain, aside from poopy snow it was awesome. stayed in a little hostel for a couple nights, boarded the days away... well, until he broke his baseplates that is! can't wait to get back up there, but if it keeps raining i'll be mad. really mad. i'm holding out for friday... snow snow snow!