I early voted this week! The line was huge, the whole process took at least an hour and a half. A few people saw the line and left but many more just pouted and got in line. People in line were excited! An old lady behind me was talking to the person next to her about how we are making history.

I came back and had an email about the Obama election night party. I didn’t click on it right away and I should have. By the time I got to it, tickets were gone and the waitlist was up. Already tickets are up on Craigslist, some people are asking $100-200/ticket.

I got a bicycle! Its a purple 15 speed hybrid. It’s a 16″ which I at first thought would be too small but it ended up feeling a lot better than the other bikes I’ve tried. The tires are bigger too which probably helps. When I get more stable on this one I can always trade in. The used bike shop I went to had some supercool old Schwinns that they had restored. I would like to rock the vintage banana seat. I stopped by Target afterward to look for a U Lock and they just had the stupid cable locks that are easy to break. So I went to Home Depot and got some really thick metal chain. I had a padlock at home so tada, $7 bike lock.

I kind of (emotionally) pushed my client today in session. She is having relationship problems and doesn’t want to talk to her partner because she is afraid of making her partner upset and angry. So I tried to get her to brainstorm things to say, find emotion words, use I statements, all that good fighting stuff. She was struggling with it and finally just said she wanted to talk about another subject. So I gave her homework, next session she has to bring in her I statements and emotion words. She seemed to like this idea a lot better and maybe writing the list will push her to have the talk with her partner before next session. But if that happens, I need to think of something else for us to talk about. Dammit!

Things are improving at work and with clients. At work I had my yearly review and my boss had lots of positive things to say. The agency keeps talking budget cuts and I get nervous since I haven’t been successful in getting a grant since I’ve been there. I also haven’t applied for a lot of funding which is another things my boss and I talked about. I would like to you know…do my job. She reminded me that I have to be pushy about getting staff to listen to me. I am pushy and they do listen but they don’t act. People say “ya sounds like a good RFP” and then nothing. I’m kind of caught since my boss pointed out that if I want to move up, I need grants to pay for my promotion and I need stuff to do to validate making a new position.
In volunteer-land, I have one client that has stuck around. Client 2 disappeared, client 3 is a maybe. The client that did stick around is really interesting and motivated. I feel like I have a good connection with her and she is older than me which makes me feel better about the other client saying I was too young. The maybe client is the one that said I’m too young, so at least she hasn’t bailed completely!

I’m looking for Halloweeny things to do. It looks like I won’t be getting a bike in time for the Critical Mass ride. I’m still looking on CraigsList because I do want one but the cheap bikes go really fast.

Oh, and I went to The Whistler, a new bar in Logan Square. It’s small but I like it. They have a stage for live acts and a DJ table. They do the whole ‘craft cocktail’ thing that’s getting so popular in this area. It pretty much means fancy mixed drinks with rare ingredients that take more skill than sloshing bottles to assemble. One of their drinks comes with a candied hibiscus which is delicious. It’s very much the indie cool kid scene but not Wicker Park hipsters. Think cardigans and a slightly older crowd that still drinks PBR. I wore argyle and felt OK there.

Busy couple of weeks! Birthdays, bachelorette party, bikes (can’t think of anymore B’s) and clients!
I want to get a bicycle so I can ride in the Halloween Critical Mass. My roommate has convinced me that it’s much fun and I won’t die because it’s a slow ride and there are lots of people. I didn’t feel so reassured by the guy I met today to look at a bike he was selling. I got on and said it was too tall. He asked if I was one of those people that hasn’t been on a bike in 5 years. How did he tell so quickly? Probably the way I gracefully swung my leg over the bike like I was mounting a horse. And 5 years? Try more like 10 aside from pretending to ride away on my niece/nephew’s bike while babysitting. I didn’t get the bike because I couldn’t put my feet flat on the ground. Maybe not everyone needs that in a bike? He was nice about meeting me in the rain to have me reject his bike because I’m short.

And clients! I met with 2 of my clients last weekend. I’m kind of bothered at the disorganization of the agency. They didn’t get me a key to the counseling rooms and I was waiting in the lobby for someone to bring one down. I heard my client arrive and asked the receptionist for a key again and he said “Oh, the person with the keys just walked away.” I reminded him I’m NEW and don’t know the person he is talking about. An introduction would have been helpful. So his next solution was to bang on the door of the counseling area. Great. I did and eventually another staff person lent me her key for the day. So far this key thing has not been resolved because (I was finally informed) volunteers don’t get keys.

My clients are awesome and I know I’m capable of handling their issues but I also know it’s going to take a couple sessions for “counselor mode” to kick in. I can snap to “crisis counselor” right away but regular counseling takes a different level of planning and is about much less tangible things. I met with my supervisor and told him my concerns and he seems pretty convinced that I’m on the right track. I’m doing a good job of identifying core issues, I know what Not to do, I’m eager to offer the client something. What that something is…I don’t know. Maybe I’m looking for too concrete of a solution. I’m used to cognitive-behavioral counseling, crisis intervention and substance abuse group treatment. All very structured. Substance abuse treatment even has steps!

So I’m working on not letting my anxiety freeze me. Work isn’t busy this week, I can read up on the very important 2nd session.

Not going to go into detail about the bachelorette party but dammit if I knew the bachelorette’s mom was going to be there, I would have got her something a bit more tame! I was a bit put off by a party goer going “eww” at my gift. Another said her husband didn’t want her having “things like that.” WTF ladies? Take control of your vajays!
Also a nice drunk boy tried picking me up at the bar after the party. He told me he broke his rib the week before and I responded by hitting him. I’m excellent with men. (He still invited me back to his place and then I snuck out when he wasn’t looking.)

I listened to the MSF webinar today. It’s a useful beginner’s recruitment seminar, I recommend it to anyone interested in working with MSF. I learned that mental health professionals working with MSF have more of a supervisory than a hands on role. That’s kind of disappointing, I wanted to do more hands on work but I do understand the benefit of having local people do the one on one work (if they do employ local people.)
If I wanted to work with them, I’m on the right track, getting my clinical license and having experience with DV and sexual assault victims. I need more clinical experience and experience working in under-developed areas. As ghetto as the West side of Chicago is, I don’t think it counts toward the type of experience they’re looking for. So I would probably have to do some domestic work first.
They also want bilingual workers, French preferred. I took French in undergrad and don’t remember any of it. Relearning French might have a dual purpose, I can use it to score points on Canadian immigration tests if Obama doesn’t win.
It seems like a lot of work but it’s not like I would be applying anytime soon. I need 2 years clinical experience post LCSW. By checking it out now, I can slowly work toward these things and when I am clinically qualified I won’t have to rush to find experiences or skills to be a good candidate. If only I was so prepared about everything in my life!