Kicked Off the Student Island

So on Saturday I graduated with my MA. I have no job, or any real prospects. I thought I'd keep track of my progress (?)...

Interestingly enough, I didn't even check my email yesterday. I spent all day working on craft project I've been putting off for literally years. This may suggest that I'm not trying very hard on the job front. Today has been different, which is a good thing.

I have officially signed up for ACA (the American Counseling Association) in order to obtain the liability insurance required for practicing therapy legally, albeit without pay. That's an important step. I also filled out part one, of a zillion or so, of the registration form required for supervision registration. They don't really tell you just how much work is necessary after you graduate.

Slowly but surely (and hopefully!) I progress down this path toward adulthood. I hope it turns out to be at least a little of what it's cracked up to be!

My First Old Man...

My husband was not a huge fan of this nickname, but it was with the utmost affection and love that I referred to our late, great, shepard as "the old man." Our dog, McConnell, lost the battle with some internal awfulness on Friday, February 6. He was 14, and had been part of my husband Blair's life since birth. They had a bucketload of good times (check out his blog to see pics and read all about it).

Although I came on the scene only 6 years ago, I developed a great bond with this dog, and always considered him secretly mine, too. We went running. He loved to swim, and desperately wanted into Brush Creek (nasty!) when we walked past it. He loved peanut butter and ice cream, all the tastier when combined. He was a truly special member of our developing family, and was the commander-and-chief when we broght home a cat, and then a puppy, with whom to share our affections.

McConnell will surely be missed by many. None more so than Blair, and myself. We are so grateful for all the years we had with him...

My Letter to the Editor

Passing this bill is crucial. I am a 29 year-old graduate student, and I've been married less than two years. During that time my husband has been unemployed twice; a total of 7 months. His graduate loans came due 3 months prior to being fired, and then he totaled his car. Meanwhile, my car died. In these approximate 20 months of marriage, we have had 5 types of insurance, each of which barely covers us for previous conditions, including 'mental health illness', and birth control.

We are educated, hard-working, determined individuals. Our parents worked to provide us with the means for a successful future. Why has that slipped from the realm of reality? I will be fortunate to find a job in May, when I receive my MA in Counseling and Guidance, despite this being a field in constant need of clinicians.

I seriously doubt our ability to have a 'better' life than our parents', and isn't that what we want for younger generations? That does not bode well for the children of the future.

We cannot afford more unemployment, fewer teachers, inaccessible healthcare, or inefficient energy. This bill simply has to pass.

The Stuff That Stresses...

... Not in any particular order

1. the staggering prevalence of child sexual abuse
2. a show on mtv that has a title something along the lines of 'bisexual twins looking for love'
3. not fitting into pants i could a year ago
4. cat puke
5. unsuccessful searches on my university library account and the nat geo website for an article on why neanderthals didn't survive: in short, because they ate one another and had no real sense of community... get with the program republicans, or this could be you!

What Now?

The scary emails that have been going around for months seem to be continuing. There are folks out there that still feel the need to forward ridiculous emails about Obama: being a Muslim, hiring all manner of unqualified people to staff his White House, taking everyone's money and giving it to people that don't work. When will it end? Will we be subjected to this nonsense forever?

I just don't understand why this continues. What is meant to be accomplished by such antics? Case in point: my best friend forwarded this email that her husband's grandmother had sent. Yes, grandmother. It proceeded to outline (ignorantly and unconvincingly, I might add) how one cannot be both a Muslim and a good American. Pretend for a moment that this is even a valid argument, and consider instead the fact that Obama is not, for the billionth time, a Muslim. Really. How many times does this have to be pronounced?!

Now, back to the email itself. Aren't we as Americans supposed to be equal? Why then, are we so damn afraid of anyone that varies slightly from ourselves? I won't even attach or post this email because of it's extreme ridiculousness and idiocy. I just wish that people would wake up and realize that Barack Obama will be our President come January, and perhaps our energies would be better spent focusing on making our country better and not on denigrating the next leader of the United States.

Kansas City is Not a Blemish

So yesterday I was mistakenly reading the Letters to the Editor online at the kcstar.com. Bad idea. Post election emotions have prompted all the crazies (myself included) to post whatever ramblings they deem worthy of online publication. So I decided to start my own blog. At least this way I'm posting my ramblings in my own private (ha!) corner of the internet.

The guy that led me to this conclusion had the audacity (of ignorance, not hope) to refer to Kansas City and St. Louis as zits on the otherwise clear face of Missouri. He actually said, "Thank God for rural Missouri." I mean, really?!? This is the reason our fine state went red once again. Thanks to chuckleheads like this guy, and the 17,769 folks that voted for Nader and the 11,355 folks that voted for Barr. These stats were online with some super cool interactive maps.

Additionally, a man named Gary Kerr posted a comment about how naive our country was to elect Obama as our next President. He suggested we go ahead and start grooming two strong Republicans for the 2012 election. First of all, grooming is the term used to describe what pedophiles do to children prior to abusing them. Poor choice of words, Gary. Second, didn't Senator McCain himself suggest in his concession speech that we come together as a country to support our next democratically elected official? I believe he most certainly did. My response to him was to follow his own candidate's advice. Besides, could we really just ignore the next four years even if we wanted to? I think not. Clearly Obama was not everyone's choice (although 52% of the popular vote, 63.4 million ballots cast beat George Bush's popular votes in 2004) but is the choice. So come on people, live with it. Do whatever needs to be done to be okay with this selection, because we have no other option.

Now is our opportunity to show the world that Americans might actually care about people other than ourselves. Maybe we can earn a bit of the privileged place we hold on this planet. And maybe, just maybe, we can not damage the earth any more in the process...