beginnings

Well, I saw my first real client at 6:00 on Friday. And I was expected to do real therapy. In a real session. I guess you could say that the reality of the situation was what struck me.

He's an adolescent male who does not want to be in therapy. He did not make eye contact with me for the entire 50 minutes. He also did not say a word. We passed the session in awkward silence, broken only by my futile attempts to engage him every few minutes. Awesome.

On the plus side the whole experience inspired me to create a new drink upon arriving home. I call it the tequila sec. It's equal parts tequila and triple sec, which is pretty much all I had on hand It's surprisingly good, though ... at least I was surprised at its goodness. But maybe at that point my expectations had been lowered to the point that clam juice and diet slice would have seemed fantastic to me. It's hard to say.

It's all right though. If that's all he's got in his arsenal I can handle it. And if it's a battle of the wills that he's after I'll be up to the task. I'm confident in my ability to wait him out. Hopefully healing can be found on the other side.

update time

First I'd like to wish a very happy Screw England day to my readership. Stupid Redcoats.

Wow. A lot sure has happened since I last posted three weeks ago.

1) Darcy defended her dissertation. (Wooooo!)

2) We took a brief vacation to San Francisco, the first time either of us made it up there despite living in Pasadena for the past 4 years. We had a great time, although it was a bit of a struggle to balance our need for rest after a particularly stressful end to the quarter (see point 1 above) with our desire to see as much of the city as possible while we were there. We did what we could, and everything that we couldn't do, well, we left those things undone.

3) Then we both got right back into the swing of things with an intensive class (Forgiveness and Reconciliation in Clinical Practice) that just ended on Thursday. Which also marked the official end of Darcy's coursework at Fuller.

So it's been a three week flurry of nonstop activity (I didn't even mention my preparations for the beginning of practicum, Tracy's wedding, or Danny's pick up three-on-three basketball tournament) and - aided by a holiday weekend - I've finally had enough time to catch my breath and punch out a blog post.

An aside: Congratulations to Al Franken. Now let's get to work on healthcare or cap and trade, shall we?

Here's a few pictures from our trip:

Here's me thinking about something or another at Fisherman's Wharf. Let's say that I'm thinking about Ghirardelli chocolate ice cream. It's quite good.


AT&T Park, home of the best stadium food I've yet encountered. There's also some team that plays their home games there that I'm not especially fond of. We got to see the Angels complete their sweep of the home team :)

A large orange-ish bridge that is apparently quite popular with the locals.

The wife and I in front of said bridge. We walked most of the way across it. Then our feet started hurting. Then we had to walk all the way back. Which left Darcy in a fantastic mood.

thought experiment

If, as they say, a million monkeys pounding on a million typewriters for millions of years would eventually produce the works of Shakespeare ...

Then how long would it take my cat to produce Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea by walking back and forth across our laptops as we attempt to work (which apparently one of her favorite sources of entertainment, judging by the frequency she chooses to do it)?

Thoughts like these prevent me from actually being productive and getting my finals done early.

Movie review: Up

Well, on Monday the wife and I were feeling a bit stressed after a schoolwork-filled and altogether unrestful weekend so we decided to catch an afternoon movie, a rare treat for us. Curious about what all the fuss was about, we opted for Pixar's Up.

I accept the proposition that last year Wall-E redefined what an animated film can be. Up does that, only much more so. While appropriate for the younger set, it's definitely not a kids' movie. It's a 96 minute meditation on grief and loss and regret featuring an elderly widower (Ed Asner) as its protagonist. It's heart-felt and emotionally raw, but the emotion feels genuine and never contrived. It's also hilarious. But it'll still make you cry. Seriously, it will. I can't remember the last time I cried because of a movie. I didn't even cry when I was 6 and Bambi's mother was shot, but I had a tear roll down my cheek during Up.

The verdict: I submit that this is the best film of the year so far. It's really not even close, especially if you only consider wide releases. Go see it. If you regret it come see me so I can tell you that you're an inhuman monster to your face.

Magic 3, Cavaliers 1

I'm sad now. It's a deep, pervasive, penetrating sadness with which I am all too well acquainted. At the same time, since my sadness is so familiar to me, it's a little like a friend coming home after a long vacation. A friend that you hate with every fiber of your being because he's such a jerk to you all the time but then he'll be nice to you for just long enough to make you think that maybe this time it will be different but then it's not and you'd think it would stop hurting eventually but somehow it never does because each wound is a little different. That's what it's like.

And the season's not even over yet. I'm a little ahead of schedule.

Another one for the good guys

Another series, that is. My Cavaliers finished off the Hawks with only slightly more difficulty than they had with the Pistons. As a Cleveland sports fan, this is really the only star in my constellation worth gazing at right now. (Did that metaphor work on any level? My guess is an emphatic no.)

This is because my Indians are off to a truly atrocious start (14-22, 4.5 games behind the Tigers at the time of this writing) and my Browns, by all accounts, are destined for another season of sub-mediocrity. This Cavs team is the best shot that we've had at a championship since 1997, and it's fair to say that my hopes are officially "up." In every other instance in my life where I've allowed this to happen my hopes have come crashing back down very soon thereafter. But this time it's going to be different ... I think ...

(to be continued)

fun with numbers

According to a new survey released last week by the Pew Research Center and reported by CNN, the religious group in America most likely to support the use of torture is white Evangelicals. The group least likely to support torture is people unaffiliated with any religion.

Does anyone else find this as disturbing as I do? What is it about Jesus that makes people want to simulate drowning and slam peoples' heads against retractable walls provided they're wearing collars to prevent death? It's times like this I wish I wasn't an American Christian.