Day 302: Book Fail.

Generally, I like to read one book at a time.  I don't like to read a bunch of books at the same time.  I don't know why.

However, I am currently reading 4 different books right now.  And that's after I finished two books yesterday.  One book is taking forever to read, another isn't as interesting to me now as it was before, and two others are e-books.  Tomorrow I will be starting a different book.

I really want to finish all of these books, but when they aren't 4 or 5 star material, it's hard for me not to move onto another book that has the potential to be worthy of 4 or 5 stars.  As long as I finish them all by December 31, I will be good.

Day 301: Mentoring Day 1

Now that I got matched with a girl I would be mentoring, today was the day that I was to meet her.

Result:  We were supposed to have dinner together, but it turned out that the kids were having a Halloween social event.  (Therapist fail!)  But I did get to meet her for about 5 minutes.  She's 17 and has a very mellow temperament.

Mentor partnering up fail averted.

I think we're going to get along just fine.

Day 300: Airport Fail. Almost.

Today was an "almost" fail.  Pretty damn close fail.  I had to drop my boyfriend off at the airport.

Result:  Traffic was horrendous due to lane closures.  We got there with MAYBE 30 minutes to spare.  Talk about nerve-wracking.

Then he got stuck in Atlanta because of an overbooked flight.  So that was a total fail.  But I live in Atlanta and was able to drive there and see him for another day/night.  So it ended up being a total win.

Day 299: Costume Fail.

Classy.

Part of the New Orleans fun plan was to hang out around Bourbon Street to celebrate Halloween festivities.  And what's Halloween without a costume?

Result:  I had bought a costume.  The thing broke pretty quickly.  A total waste of money!  But I improvised and basically just hairsprayed my hair green.  It was the stupidest costume ever!  But it was fun to wear a black dress and feel cute and see other people dressed up.  It was a good day :-)

Day 298: New Orleans!

Vegan gumbo!!!

I went to New Orleans this weekend for CSI Con (Committee for Skeptical Inquiry).  One of the things that I did today was walk around Bourbon St later in the evening with my (now) boyfriend and a friend.

Result:  Holy crap it was insane.  People everywhere, alcohol everywhere, drunk people, crowds, etc.  If there's two things I don't like, it's drunk people and crowds.  Put them together and I kind of freak out. 

But I just held onto my boyfriend's hand and let him and my friend lead the way.  Oh, and it was FREEZING out.  But I got through the evening, and nothing bad happened to me :-)

Day 298: The Ghastly Dreadfuls.

My friend Brian invited me to go see a show at the Atlanta Center for Puppetry Arts called The Ghastly Dreadfuls.  I had no idea what to expect.  At all.  What if I don't have fun?  And I have to pack for a weekend trip.  I won't get home until 11pm or so.

Result:  It was a lot of fun!  They're a band, and they mixed songs with puppetry.  And I went to high school with the cello player!!!  (She's not in the above picture, though.)  She was really good.  They were all really entertaining, and I'm totally glad that I went.

Day 297: Mentoring.

One of the things I decided to do for my Field Practicum class is mentor someone at the inpatient treatment facility I volunteer at.  Today I had a meeting with one of the therapists so that we could figure out who would be a good match for me to mentor.

I really don't know what qualifications would make someone a good mentor.  I would hate to be someone's mentor and not enjoy it or even make the kid worse.  But I'm going to go ahead and take a chance and mentor someone who needs some support from an adult-like figure. 

Day 296: Cooking.

To say that I hate cooking is an understatement.  If there were a stronger word than hate, that would be me.

Sometimes I think that some day I should start to at least cook one thing.  Pasta.  Cooking a pot of pasta is like torture for me.  Canned vegetables.  I seriously have to force myself to heat up some canned beans and vegetables on the stove.

When I'm hungry, I want to eat and get it over with.  My ideal meal is some granola bars and crackers and milk.

One good thing about dating (other than the fact that I coincidentally tend to date guys who like to cook) is that it motivates me to cook.  It's fun to make something that you know someone will appreciate.

I may never be a gourmet cook or even ever use the oven (seriously), but I'm okay with the fact that I don't like to cook for myself.  Cooking for a significant other is much more fun.

Day 295: FED.

As part of my Field Practicum class, one of the ways I am volunteering in the psychology field is by attending FED meetings.  FED stands for Families of Eating Disorders.  It's a support group for people who want support for dealing with family/friends/etc who have an eating disorder.

My therapist runs the meetings; I'm there as a person in recovery.  I'm there to answer questions people may have.  I'm able to speak from a healthy perspective about what their loved ones are going through.

I may not have the best eating habits (totally failing at eating healthy foods), but I can still offer guidance and advice to people.  I don't have to be perfect in order to be of help to others.