Problems with Procrastination

My friend is coming down to "have a good time" for the new years weekend. I am not the only person he's visiting, but I will be his primary host. Alas. . . I still have to finish 8+ pages of my thesis proposal before he comes down. "Having a good time" is farthest from my mind and I am afriad I'll be a wet blanket tonight.

I wish bloging was a masters level course . . . I think I'd get an A for effort and time commitment.

WHAT????

I find that I shout constantly now and I feel that it is starting to become a problem!

At work I notice that some staff speak in almost normal tones, although they are naturally soft spoken people and so what sounds normal to me may actually be shouting for them.

I find that when dealing with older people with hearing loss THE most important thing is to pronunciate, not necessarily to be loud. In fact, one of the best things to do, is to spell out key words. It is easier for elders to understand letters than the whole word. However, when I am tired and forget this I always start to shout, thinking that if I speak the same slurred words louder somehow they'll be audible. Sad.

I naturally have a pretty loud voice, though when at work, when I try to talk "normally", people tell me that they cannot hear me. Well, I should reiterate, most people usually can hear me, but there are always one or two who cannot in every group and they are VERY vocal about not being able to hear me . . . so I shout.

My mom noticed the difference in my speaking volume immediately after I started working with elders. The first week of work, I called her and left a message on her machine which she said she could hear across the house (my mom has hearing problems as well, so I often have to speak up for her).

The worst though was this morning, Saturday morning, when I should leave any thoughts of hearing loss far behind me, I was AMAZED when I said something in a regular voice and non of my roommates said "What??" I was equally amazed by how difficult it was for me to leave my shouting voice behind and that I unintentionally shout now, terrified I will not be understood. ;)

The last fear I have is that I, too, will start suffering hearing loss. It is natural for therapists and other human service workers to sometimes internalize/personalize their clients' fears and pains, but I swear that my fear is justified!

Because it is a serious problem if a member of the memory impaired unit wanders off the ward, there is a VERY loud piercing alarm at every door that goes off if the door is opened for more than 2 minutes. However, when I am leading elders out of the door for activities it usually takes much more than 2 minutes for them to make it and the alarm inevitably goes off. Then all the PCAs(Personal Care Attendents) yell at me to "use your key!" to turn the alarm off, but because I'm an intern no one has given me a key for the alarm. So . . on the three days that I work, I have to stand directly under a piercing and EXTREMELY loud alarm for up to five minutes, often more than two times a day.

When I lose my hearing I ask only one thing . . . please do not shout at me ;)

One More. . .

So . . when I need to clean my room these quizzes start looking mighty appealing!

Even if I am a Midwesterner at heart, at least I know my state!

Dude! You're 100% from Massachusetts!

 

Dude! Me and Sully and Fitzie and Sean are gonna hit Landsdowne tonight after the game, hang out at the Beerworks. I'll pick you up at the Coop at 6.

How Massachusetts are you?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

It's Official!

To counter all the sappy "Merry . . ", "Happy . . ." and Peace . . . " thoughts going around this time of year. I thought I'd write a superficial blog all about ME!

ALL of my life people have told me that I "talk funny". While growing up in Boston, my classmates teased me about the way I spoke. I, unlike everyone else in my class, pronounced drawer as drawer, not draweh. However, I grew up five minutes from the heart of Boston! It didn't make sense.

When I went to college in Minnesota, they were dissapointed because I didn't say one word like a true Bostonian. Then, when I came home after living in San Francisco for two years, my new roommates told me that they thought I must have lived in London for a while because I had a lilt to my voice and rounded vowels. Even in San Fran they told me there was something strange about the way I spoke.

My mom was trained as an opera singer and she used to do vocalizations with me when I was a child. This may contribute to some of my strange speech patterns, although I think the biggest influence is that she is originally from northwest pennsylvania (almost in Canada!/Ohio) and my Dad was from northwestern Chicago.

Thanks to this test it all makes sense. No wonder I never sounded like anyone! Minnesota is the closest to my "accent" but this quiz defines the Minnesotan accent as "North central" so I don't really have that either.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland   "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The West
Boston
North Central
The Inland North
The South
Philadelphia
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Discouraged or Inspired?

My first evening highlight was the Somerville Illumination Tour, which I highly recommend. It is once a year and is absolutely fantastic. I learned a little bit about the history of this fine town and got to see some AMAZING light displays. I even got a map so that I can take my family around on the tour myself. It was inspirational to see so many people bringing light into the night and cheer into strangers lives!
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Why stop with the lights? - Next I was onto the movies at the Somerville Theatre. However, I was over an hour early and there was a live performance in the top section, so I got to eavesdrop on a really awesome band called the James Montgomery Bluesband. To top it off, he had a special guest tonight, Grace Kelly, a 14 year old child prodigy tenor sax player. She is from my home town, Brookline, and also has the additional talent of being able to tap dance while she plays!! She is only 14 but has already held a solo show at Scullers Jazz club, one of the top jazz clubs in Boston! She truly sounded great. Well, at least through the door!
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When I did get to see the movie it turned out to be Intense! I saw Blood Diamond. Leo definitely deserves an Oscar for it although he was a bit mellow dramatic at the end and it just got so predictable and sappy that it was a bit too much. However, Whatever flaws the movie had, I think its strength was in laying out a strong political agenda ( I guess as long as you agree with its message). Hopefully it will cause most American viewers to question the origin of their gems.

This movie made me remember six years ago when I was living in Sri Lanka. There, I had a friend who was very wealthy because he was a very successful gem dealer. He worked specifically with the American and European students and tourists. Sri Lanka is known for its relatively cheap and high quality gems, especially saphires, alexandrite, rubies and cats' eyes. I have to admit that I LOVE gems and ended up purchasing some rare stones there. I appreciate both their social and geological history. It is fascinating. Although I had some idea that the conditions under which the gems were being mined were unfair, I don't think I labored on this thought for too long. I also did not think about the political/social disruption that diamonds and other gems could cause nor did I consider the damage to the earth as we pillage it.

I am not about to go and return the gems I have collected, but I will have to reconsider my future endeavors (if the opportunity ever arises again). I also will be more alert to this topic in the news in the future.

Fresh Old Woman

Got groped by an old woman today. She wanted to make sure that I was "reproductively capable" . . grrreat!

She thought I had no boobs and was so surprised at what she found when she reached and grabbed that she let out a little yelp (I was wearing a bulky, form hiding sweater).

What can I say, my chest has that effect on people . . ;)

Lesson: Time to learn how to set limits with sexually fixated dementia residents!

Learn to cohabitate or else you'll drive yourself nuts! - literally!

One does not know hell till one has to listen to five squirrels gnawing on the boards, plaster, wires etc in one's ceiling and walls! God help me!

Our landlord and all his best men cannot seem to make our apartment squirrel free again. Here are the ideas that have either been suggested or tried:

1- set up traps- catch them and drown them all (supposedly the only way to get rid of squirrels)

2- soak food they would like in a strong alcohol and watch what happens (inspired by an insane uncle I had who did this with pigeons and watched them fly into buildings killing themselves- that is if they didn't die first from alcohol poisoning)

3- rat poison- although this gets tricky with squirrels because I have heard that unlike mice and normal rodents who go outside to die, squirrels stay in the building - ICK!

4- Wait outside our building with a beebee gun and try to hit them as they come and go from our building (inspired by the family of one of my brother's friends who used squirrels on their bird feeder as target practice).

5- Block their entrances with ply wood, wreck their condo of squirrel nests in our rafters and fill smaller holes with steel wool. (This has all been tried by our landlord's men to no avail. Squirrels are not that dumb. They gnaw new holes, and somehow always find a way in)

Any ideas welcome. I'm not sadistic enough to do the first four.

Lesson: There are two things you cannot evade in life: death and taxes and there are two things that will be remaining when we are all gone- cockroaches and squirrels!

New Orleans Pix

Here are the pix from New Orleans: Night life+ Daytime. I'm too swamped with work to write a blog about my experiences at the Art Therapy convention right now, but, when i go on winter break in a couple weeks hopefully I'll write a few lines to fill in the stories behind the pictures

Have a good weeken Ya'll
-el