I apologize it has been so long since I have posted, but besides the obvious, nothing new has happened that I HAD to write about (at least nothing that would not break HIPAA). However, I thought I would dwell on a phrase I have heard several times since I started working at my new job. “This will be the hardest job you will ever have.”

This is what I have heard from bosses, coworkers, and everybody I describe my new job to. Of course, I did think about how hard it would be going in. I knew I needed a challenging bit of experience to get into grad school (which I will start applying for soon), but I don’t think it has really sunk in until now. Getting to know these kids and seeing what they have been through has been rewarding and terrifying all at the same time. Since I’m still considered “new staff,” I’m still getting to know them and learning how to interact with them. I feel like I am absorbing everything at a rate in which I could definitely see myself doing this for a while. However, that does not mean that I won’t be dead tired in the meantime.

After about three weeks of working as a program counselor for an adolescent treatment center (the locked unit), I’m starting to get how true that is. Every kid is different. There is not a set formula for counseling or working with adolescents. True, I will not be doing one-on-one counseling for about two more months, but the working with the group in general is getting a little rough. I have found I have had to develop quite a tough skin, which is happening slowly. When kids say snide comments, I need to let it roll off my back. I need to recognize when kids are trying to manipulate me. To many of them, I am the enemy, and that has not been my experience working with kids. At the same time, I have to keep several appropriate boundaries. No kid is allowed to call staff by their first name (even staff calls each other by last name). We can’t touch the kids at all. We can’t reveal anything about ourselves (which is a tad hard for me). While I agree these are a good thing, it can be a hard thing to get used to.

In short, if I can make it here, I can make it anywhere.

Anyway, other things are happening in my life. I have started and finished the entire Harry Potter series, and have just moved on to My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult. It looks to be yet another book that will either lead me to become an annoying hypochondriac, or to contemplate my own mortality. Either way, fun times. I am waiting with bated breath for the colors to change on the trees. I am preparing to apply to UT, and I am quite sure I will be going for social work instead of MHC. It seems like an easier route to go if I want to continue working. Whenever I am not working, I am researching, exploring, or hanging with Milan. We just found out it will be the two of us for the foreseeable future (details of this are probably unfit to post here since they will not be very nice) so we are now focusing on getting the apartment homey and live-in-able (yes, I know that’s not a word). It just sucks because I thought there would be a chance my rent would go down since we were splitting it by three, but no such luck.

Oh, and we tried the young twenties group at our church, which to me was probably going to be the starting point of our social lives here in Knoxville. The problem was that 90% of the people there were couples, and the subject of study for the next few weeks was about young marriages. WTF?!?! Milan and I were a tad miffed, but we are hoping that we can find small groups to get involved in where we can meet young people our age that can actually relate to us. It’s pretty frustrating I have been realizing how much I really want a man in my life. I guess it started when Lizz got engaged, but now that I am not afraid of someone holding me down, I feel like I am more inclined to start something. Here’s hoping God knows what He’s doing (I’ve only been here a month, after all), and I was a success during the speed dating thing we did before we left. Too bad I had to let those guys down since I was moving. Even without the man thing, I would like to make some friends. I like the people I work with, but I do not see myself hanging out with most of them. I guess it’s easier to slack in that department when you move with a friend, but I hope the slacking doesn’t continue.

In short, the only thing earth-shattering in my life right now is my job. Other than that, it is pretty quiet, while still busy and full of introspection.

I still have not figured out how to get pictures on WordPress, so I just decided to link to my Facebook photo album. I’m sure everyone reading this is my FB friend, but I still wanted to give those who might not have FB a chance to see them.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2035686&id=70701816&l=a01d1ae315