so.... what's up, mo? still kickin?

I know... I know... I have been really slacking on the posts for the past month. I don't have a functional computer at my apartment, so as holiday break kept me away from school for four weeks my internet access was cut off.

I spent the entire holiday break bouncing between two locations; one which I have grown to hate, and the other which I have grown to love. I spent a great deal of time loathing my brain-dead-suck-ass job as a hostess at the Lacey [CR]APplebee's restaurant, and also a great deal of time in (who ever would have guessed it?) Shelton. The new man (Trail is his name- another blog altogether) lives in Shelton, which means that I spend all of my free time driving the 40 minutes out Highway 101 to visit him. He is so super! I haven't had a gentleman-friend (I hate the term "boyfriend" we didn't meet in study hall, and at 29 years of age, he's no boy) that really made me feel this special in a very, very long time.

But now break is over and Trail and I communicate primarily via voicemail. I am taking 18 credits, working 2 part-time jobs, and carrying out an intership at the crisis clinic - needless to say, I keep busy.

Japan is feeling more and more like a distant memory. Like a postcard that hangs on the wall, and less like a ground my feet once traveled on. I am still studying the language, but my teacher is a mousy and unassertive American who teaches almost the entire class in English and is constantly confusing Japanese with Chinese and speaking to the class in a hybrid Asian languague NO ONE would ever understand. As predicted, I am now able to compose beautifully textbook formulaic phrases, and I am silmultaniously speaking, reading, and writing slower and with less efficiency than when I left Japan.

I have some great psychology classes this semester. Psych of Adjustment is deeply affecting me. Karen McSwain, the prof, is an admirable, strong, intelligent, wise, and funny woman. We are reading this book, Running with Scissors, and I do highly recommend it. I have been producing some creative nonfiction reflective writing for the class, and I'll probably post a little of that soon.

But probably one of the best new components of my life, is my internship at the Olympia Crisis Clinic. I am volunteering about 12 hours a week until graduation as a phone worker, or "crisis intervention counselor." It's amazing work, the clinic receives calls from homeless families that need emergency shelter, long-term mental health patients, persons struggled with addiction, abuse, loneliness, confusion. I feel like this work really allows me to connect in a very special way with some people in our community who otherwise wouldn't have an outlet or resource.