Sooooo..... while I was in a funk from being sick, I've done some soul searching and I want some honest feedback. I'm asking for your opinions, so I want the truth. Just understand that I won't be making my decisions based entirely upon others' opinions. I just need to put things into perspective & I think some outside advice may help.

As you know, I've just entered my junior year in college. This is basically the last chance that I have to change my direction before I go any further without screwing up my time frame or finances.

My focus thus far has been on therapy of some sort, whether it be as a Sociology or Psychology major. If I continue in this direction, I'll most likely go for a Psychology major with a Sociology minor, then get my Masters degree in Mental Health Counseling. I have the option of continuing from there to either get my LCSW or PhD.

The other crazy idea I have is to switch gears and go for a degree in writing of some sort -- journalism (maybe even photojournalism?) or editing. I like all the different kinds of writing I've been exposed to & want to write someday, either fiction or even psychological articles, if I go that route. I enjoy reporting and technical writing, along with graphic design and advertising.

Okay, well those are my thoughts. Any feedback would be appreciated! And for those of you who are local, my RCC graduation will be Saturday, June 12 at 6 p.m. at the Grants Pass campus. For those of you who are out of town, it would be great to see you, but don't feel obligated to come. This is only my first graduation. :)

Well, I made it through the week (barely)! I've been progressively feeling crappier despite taking antibiotics, so I finally went to the doctor, who gave me more antibiotics.

Tyson is still pretty sick too, but wanted to go to Salem to play basketball with one of the Rogue Valley's traveling teams. I hope I made the right decision in letting him go, being sick and all, but I just couldn't bring myself to deny him the opportunity.

In his absence, I'm taking it easy. I do have a lot of transcription & finals to do, but I'm trying to take at least today to get some R&R and hopefully get better. It's beautiful outside & everyone's camping or traveling for Memorial Day weekend, but I'm holed up on my couch watching chick flicks & crime dramas. On the upside, I've discovered a few new shows: Castle, Drop Dead Diva, and Happy Town. And I re-watched How Stella Got Her Groove Back. Oh, that Winston... If he were here, he'd take such good care of me... (although I wouldn't want him to see me looking like this!)

Today was a rough one. It started out well. I woke up slightly groggy from staying up doing homework last night, since I spent all weekend doing farming, transcription, and basketball games (all this while still sick after 2 weeks)! I actually got to my 8 am yoga/meditation class on time, and had a really nice, mellow class. Afterward, I got a cup of coffee to accompany my healthy breakfast of a banana, granola bar, and yogurt & headed off to my "Media in Communications" class. I had some time in between classes, so I sat down & organized my notebooks & my planner. Off to a great start!

After class, I checked my voicemail & was told I had an extra tape to pick up for one of the docs I'm filling in for, so I picked that up & headed home for an hour to eat lunch, do my online transcription, purchase my books for the next two terms, and register for summer & fall classes. The address on my debit card didn't match my new address that I wanted to books shipped to, so I had to change my info with my bank. In the meantime, $93 was charged to my bank account eight times, so I had to call my bank to straighten that out. While doing so, I emailed the professor of my 2 pm class to see if we were having class, because I'd written down that there was no class in my organizer but wasn't sure. While I was logged into my school email, I noticed an email from the McNair program that I had interviewed for last week. I was a little surprised, not to mention disappointed, to discover that I wasn't chosen for the program.

I got a reply from my prof that we did indeed have class, so I headed back to Ashland for school. Once class got out, I picked up some groceries & more transcription, dropped everything off, and headed to Phoenix to pick Tyson up from basketball practice. On the way, I stopped off to check the mail & I got a letter saying that they had adjusted my financial aid, so now I will be getting at least $600 less next term. The other piece of mail was from my doctor recommending I call to schedule a pap smear. This day had definitely taken a turn for the worse.

Tyson was exhausted when I picked him up & is feeling sick all over again (I got my cough from him), so he was grouchy. We came home, I cooked dinner while doing transcription, and Tyson took a shower & fell asleep watching TV in his room (without dinner).

I went back to Ashland at 7 to pick up four more doctors' dictations & came back home & decided to work on a project for school & take a break from the transcription, saving it for tomorrow. I wasted 2 hours watching this movie all the way through before I realized that it was a different movie (by the same title) than my prof had assigned.

I'm going to bed now, so I can get up tomorrow & do it all over again... ugh!

Here's what I did today:



My friend Michael (my old editor from the RCC Byline) called me up the other day & asked if I'd be interested in volunteering, putting in a garden for the local food pantry. I said I would & he asked me to bring other volunteers, so I rounded up Mary, Allen, & Tyson & we went to work on the farm today. There was a photographer there from the Mail Tribune, too, so we might be in the paper!

Well, I just basically wanted to get these pics uploaded & now I have to get to work -- I picked up that extra transcription this evening, so it's back to the grind!

Sure enough, Tyson brought me breakfast in bed for Mother's Day. Afterward, I called my mom & had a nice long talk with her. I think that was the extent of the celebration, which is perfect as far as I'm concerned.

I did my Media/Communications class presentation and I think it went pretty well. We haven't gotten our grades back on it yet. One of the other three students never met with us to do any work on the essay or presentation, so we had to politely explain to her that she couldn't present with us. We had all tried to include her in our emails & meetings & she never responded, so we were a little surprised when she replied to our email asking her not to prsent with us saying that she was "hurt." That very same week, she copied & pasted one of my other team members' weekly post online for an assigment! I felt a little less bad after that happened.

My other classes have been going well, except for the fact that I didn't attend all of them last week. I caught some cough/chest thing that Tyson had & it's been really doing a number on me. I'm going on two weeks now & it's still pretty bad.

Last weekend I went to Heather's baby shower, which was a potluck BBQ at a park in Medford. There were a bunch of people there I didn't know, but Mary & Matt came, Allen came with me, and Mindy & Brandon were there of course. Heather was a little cranky, but I think she's at that point in her pregnancy. I took some pics, but I think they got lost when my hard drive crashed on my laptop. (Dell overnighted me a new one, which is what I'm using now). I'll look to see if they might have been uploaded to my other laptop by any chance. I sure hope so. I know for sure I lost all Tyson's basketball videos from the past three seasons, which is a TOTAL bummer!

Last night, Mary & I went to Grants Pass for my brother Allen's Phi Theta Kappa honor society induction. His sponsor & Rosalie & David came, as well. The ceremony itself was very short, but I took video & pics, so I'll add those to this post as soon as I get a chance. Allen has a 4.0 GPA & I hope he sticks with school so he can see the potential that we have all seen in him.



Well, I'm gonna eat something & try to nap a little bit before I get started on some homework. I'm trying to get ahead in school because I'll be filling in for another transcriptionist all next week & it's also the week before finals.

I don't actually have anything new to report, but am trying to stay in better touch with family, and blogging is one way to do that...

My niece, Mary, came over for coffee Friday morning (yesterday), then we went to Medford & did some shopping before I headed over to my friend, Samantha's. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but her mom just died a few weeks ago, and now her dad's going in for tripple bypass surgery. She's obviously been going through a rough time, but she's really keeping it together. We went shopping at the craft store to look for scrapbooking ideas for a project for one of her classes. Afterward, we went out to Mexican food, then she came over & we had a nice long girl's chat in my room until after midnight.

I also put together a paper for my communications class which I present with three other students on Monday morning. I'm actually pretty excited about it, because my team members are really smart & liked my ideas, as well as having some great ones of their own. I figured if it's a class about media and the effect it has on society and cultures, we should include video & music in our power point presentation. Nobody else has done that in our class, and I think it's going to go over really well.

I popped over to my friend and old neighbor, Bridget's, today for a little visit & a banana daquiri. I'm not sure what's on the agenda for tomorrow for Mother's Day. Tyson has some friends staying the night, so I'm gonna just chill in my room & fall asleep to a movie. I do enjoy this quieter life!

Had a great weekend! I went out to an early dinner with Rosalie and her husband, David, at The Roadhouse. She & I have just recently reconnected after not having seen eachnother since I was in elementary school. She's a good friend & old flame of my brother's. I arrived late, and she had made her hubby wait at the table while she ran home, so I didn't know what to do when I walked in. (I'd never met her husband before). Fortunately, the hostess went over & asked him if his name was David, and I headed on over to introduce myself. I liked him immediately -- super easy to talk to, and a genuinely nice, intelligent guy. After dinner, I came home and worked on homework.

We had two back-to-back games on Saturday night and we won both. Tyson was really on! I'm going to try to upload one of the mixes he made of some highlights from his games(I record them with my camera's video setting, so the focus isn't always great).



Tyson's friend, Eddy, stayed the night after the games & went to church with us this morning. We all had a great time and I ran into a couple that I know from basketball and from SOU, so that was cool. I just think it's so great that Tyson has formed friendships with kids he knows share his beliefs and that the boys would enjoy going to church together.

Other than that, I stayed home all weekend doing homework and unpacking/organizing. It can be ovewhelming to go through all this stuff, but it feels so good to get rid of some things and sort others.

Alright, I'm up waaaaay too late & should get to bed now. I have my first class (yoga/meditation) at 8 am. Ugh!! But hey, at least I can't get in trouble for falling asleep in class... ;)