Friday nights

I spent my friday night (after I got off work) doing two things:

1. I decided to make black bean burgers.  I've really enjoyed eating more beans and less meat lately, so I figured I'd give them a try.  If nothing else, I figure I can make them taste like I want them to, plus have the added benefit of the burgers costing a lot less than a store brand. So I soaked the dry beans all day while I was at work, hoping they'd be almost ready when I got home.  Little did I know that in order for the beans to get soft, you STILL have to cook them for like 1-2 hours, in addition to soaking all day.  This put a dent in my plans, as I didn't get off til 7 and I was hungry then, not 1, 2, 3 hours later.  Anyway, I ended up cooking the beans and made the burgers in the evening.  I guess I'll try them tomorrow or Sunday.  Hopefully they turn out well!
2. I decided to start on my project of MAKING A 3D MODEL OF THE LARYNX for anatomy.  Say what?!  Considering I now know the parts of the larynx though, this project doesn't seem nearly as intimidating as it did at the beginning of the semester.  With that said though, finding the supplies to build it with is kind of tough.  So far I have some PVC pipe, a toilet paper cardboard roll, and yeah....I still have some thinking to do.  I also realized tonight that even with all the random school supplies I bought before graduate school, I am still out of glue and scotch tape.  Major womp. I'm excited to see how awesome I can make this project though. :)

WHAT HAVE MY FRIDAY NIGHTS TURNED INTO?! ....and I'm not even in the bulk of my graduate studies yet, not even close....

Weird part is, I'm not overly upset about my laid back Friday nights pretending to be a chef and a sculptor/artist/scientist/whatever.  It kinda suits me well for now. :) In fact, this project isn't even due for another month and I'm anxious to finish it....who have I become?!

good things are cominggggg :)

This semester started out very very slowly.  I felt like the next three years or so were going to be the longest of my life, living in the middle of nowhere Virginia.  Thankfully, though, my classes have started and while a lot of them are undergrad level, they are challenging just by their nature.  My schedule this semester consists of Neurology, A&P, Audiology, a SPED class for DOE certification later on down the road, and the first part of research.

I'm loving neurology and A&P so much more than I thought that I would!  I've never really been a science person but I just 'get' them.  They are both challenging, but at the same time so fascinating.  It definitely helps that we have pretty great professors here.

I absolutely can't wait to figure out my passion in this field.  There are so many different paths that I could take in speech pathology.  I can work with infants, children, adults, seniors.  I can work in a hospital, home care, a school system, or a clinic.  I can work on the medical aspects of SLP (like swallowing) or I can work on the language side (pragmatics, vocabulary, etc) or I can work on speech (articulation disorders, etc).  Memory functions can also be thrown in (like in Alzheimer's) and everyday functions (like sequencing events).  I'm sure just by naming those things that I have somehow still missed something.

THERE ARE SO MANY OPPORTUNITIES.  I'm really legitimately excited to continue on with my course work and see what intrigues me and what I feel like I will best be utilized for in the field.  I'm sure this will be further emphasized once I start clinics next year.  It can't come fast enough.  :)

I do have to say that I am slightly glad I took the three year route.  It is a little bit more money, and another year of my life away from my home, but I really feel like this year I can master the information that I am learning here.

I love this field so much.  I just can't express that enough.  I'm glad I figured out this is where I want, need to be in life.  I'm even more glad I figured it out in time to push myself to get the grades and everything else I needed to get in to a graduate school.  Especially one that cares so much about its students.  I couldn't be any luckier.