The Upcoming Semester. Hangin’ with River. Television.
10 August 2008
This coming Monday I take the final exam in my Professional Law & Ethics class (an exam which I’ve studied harder for than I usually study for exams, but which I’m not particularly nervous about, since last month I got a perfect score on the midterm). And that’s it for my Summer term, and for my first year of grad school.
Only nine days after that, on Wednesday the 20th, the Fall term begins, and my second year of grad school is underway.
This Fall, I’ll be taking Marriage & Couples Counseling, Theories & Techniques of Somatic Psychotherapy II (oddly, there’s no class called “Theories & Techniques of Somatic Psychotherapy I”; the prerequesite for Theories & Techniques II is Psychodynamics, which I took this past Spring), Child Therapy, and Alcohol & Chemical Dependency (that last one sounded interesting, given the experiential approach of some CIIS classes, but it turns out that it’s just about how to treat clients who have alcohol and chemical dependencies).
In October I’ll also be taking workshops on child abuse, spousal abuse, and aging. These workshops are required for anyone who wants to get an MFT (Marriage & Family Therapist) license, which is the license I’ll be qualified to get after I get my degree. These workshops initially sounded like a waste of time and money, since I’m not especially interested in abusing my child or my spouse and I already know how to age at the same rate as the most well-trained professional. But as with the misleadingly-named Alcohol & Chemical Dependency class, it turns out that the workshops are about working with clients who are abusing their children and/or spouses, or who are being abused by their parents and/or spouses, or who have been aging for so long that they’re suffering adverse side effects from it and need to give it up.
Sometime in October or November I expect I’ll be called in to give my guest lecture/workshop on Autism for the undergraduate Abnormal Psychology class, for the third time (undergraduates still approach me in the halls or the student café to tell me how valuable they found the one I did this past Spring).
On top of all that, this Fall I’ll be slogging my way through the process of applying for practicum placements Practicum is fieldwork: going out and working with clients, at some clinic or agency. The work in the field that one does before one gets one’s degree is called practicum; in between the time that one gets one’s degree and the time that one gets one’s license, such work is called internship; after one gets one’s license, it’s called having a job. Depending on the results of my practicum application process, I may start performing therapy on real live clients as early as this coming January.
During the upcoming nine-day break between my first and second years of grad school, River will also be on a nine-day break from daycare; I’ll be hanging out with her all the time that Dragon Lady is at work, and I’ll also be hanging out with her nonstop this Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and the first half of the Saturday, while Dragon Lady goes on her first child-free vacation since River’s birth (meaning that River will be apart from her mother for much longer than she’s ever been).
During the time I’m hanging out with River - especially while Dragon Lady is away - I plan to also hang out with all the various local friends who River and I usually don’t see enough of. So if you’ll be in the Berkeley area during that time, get in touch and join me and River for lunch and/or dinner and/or walking around and/or hanging out in various parks and other kid-friendly places.
When I’m hanging out with River in the evening, there’s generally a stretch of time between the exciting part of the day (hanging out with a friend, going to a park, that sort of thing) and River’s bedtime - a stretch of time during which River needs to hang out with me and get nice and relaxed so she’ll get to sleep more easily. This is a stretch of time during which I find television quite useful: I sit on the couch and watch something on television, and River sits next to me and drinks a bottle of milk. I’m happy because I’ve got something to amuse me and I’m getting rest, and River’s happy because I’m sitting with her and because she finds television fairly interesting even when she doesn’t understand what’s happening onscreen, as long as she’s got milk to drink and me for company.
Of course, the odds are that at any given time on any given evening that one might happen to turn on the television, the available viewing options will range in quality from merely tolerable to downright awful. So what I generally do is I hunt for good television shows that have been around long enough that one or more seasons are available on DVD, and I rent the DVDs and watch the available seasons of the show from start to finish. That’s the best way to enjoy a TV show anyway; I’ve always preferred immersion experiences to get-a-small-dose-of-it-every-week experiences.
Which brings me to the question: what show shall I next consume in this way, starting during this upcoming nine-day break? I’m currently between shows, having recently finished watching every existing episode of Lost. I figure some of you readers might have suggestions (either suggestions of what to watch, or suggestions of what to avoid watching).
To give you an idea of my tastes: I love Lost. I think it’s one of the greatest bits of storytelling ever done in the medium of television. Other shows that I’ve enjoyed (and have already watched every existing episode of) include Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, The Sopranos (although at this point in River’s development, she has enough comprehension of what she’s watching that I wouldn’t watch anything as brutal and vicious as The Sopranos with her), House, The Young Ones, Cowboy Bebop, and Breaking Bad. So, based on all that (and whatever else you know about me)… any recommendations?
12 CommentsRiver Live in Downtown Oakland
5 August 2008
Me and River, 26 July 2008. Dobbs caught this interesting shot of us when River wandered away from Ryu & Kensei’s wedding reception and we followed her onto the sidewalks of Downtown Oakland. I think it would make a good album cover photo.
1 CommentTree Huggers
1 August 2008
River and Mihra hanging out in a tree at Ryu & Kensei’s wedding reception last Saturday.
2 CommentsHi!
29 July 2008
River, 26 July 2008. Age 20 months.
At Ryu & Kensei’s lovely wedding. (Yay!)
More soon.
2 CommentsI’m Turning 40 and You’re Invited
12 June 2008
July 3rd (three weeks from today, if you’re reading this on the day I posted it) is my 40th birthday. And you are invited to my birthday dinner.
Yes, you. If you’re reading this, you’re invited. Even if you think that I can’t possibly be talking about you. Even if I’ve never met you face-to-face before. Even if you’re not sure I’ve ever heard of you before. If you’re reading this, you’re someone I want to have at my birthday dinner this year, even if you can’t imagine why.
You’re also invited to invite anyone else whom you regard as Good Company.
If you haven’t met me face-to-face before, please introduce yourself to me when you show up.
Children are welcome - I’ll be bringing one myself.
The Where: Same place we go every year, Pinky… Edoko Japanese Restaurant, 1722 University Avenue, Berkeley, California. On the south side of University Avenue, on the block between Grant and McGee. About two blocks north and six blocks west of the Downtown Berkeley BART Station.
The When: Thursday, July 3rd, in the evening. I’ll be hanging out there from around 6:15pm to around 9pm, and you can show up anytime during that period, and stay for as long as you like (or at least for as long as the staff of the restaurant let you - they start closing up around 9:30). It would be good if a bunch of people could arrive by 6:30 or 6:45, so that the restaurant staff won’t start worrying that the tables I reserved are going to stay empty (though after last time, they probably know they don’t have to worry about that). But if you can’t make it as part of the first wave, come when you can.
The Terrible Cost: Edoko is an all-you-can-eat Japanese buffet. There’s lots of fish, a bit of bird and mammal, and some vegan stuff. At dinner time, it runs about $20 per person, including tip. Drinks other than water and green tea cost extra (I don’t drink alcohol, but you’re welcome to if you’re of legal drinking age; there’s saké to be had). We’re all going to pay separately: you just stop by the cash register on your way out, and tell the cashier that you had the buffet (plus whatever drinks you had). If you’re paying with a card, you can add the tip to your tab; if you’re paying with cash, we’ll have someone in our party designated to collect cash toward a group tip.
Don’t bring material gifts; when your birthday comes around, I won’t be bringing you a gift. The only gift I want is your presence - your physical presence at the dinner if it’s feasible, or just your presence in my life in general.
As usual, the guests will include all sorts of peculiar and delightful people (who know me from all sorts of improbable contexts), and each and every one of them is worth meeting and getting to know.
Warning: The fish in sushi contains mercury, so eating it will cause you to catch Autism, a devastating and highly contagious disease that will consume your soul, render you incapable of love or human interaction, kidnap your children, steal your car, forge your signature on checks, poison wells, and eventually turn you into a newt.
12 CommentsPiano
5 June 2008
For River, the highlight of our trip to Monterey was the old upright piano in the common room of the cabin we stayed in.
I sat her down on the stool, hit a couple of keys to demonstrate, and she took to it instantly and kept on returning to it to play again and again throughout the visit.
Today I went online and ordered a really nice little 25-key toddler-sized piano for her. It should arrive in a couple of weeks.
