Wednesday - The Last Week of the Summer Session

We have two more days with kids and then one day without students to go until the end of this Extended School Year session. I am ready for a week and a half of not going to work. The BCBA at work is cranky that I get so many days off, but he doesn't realize that he gets paid for the 30 days that I get off that he doesn't. If I worked those days, then I would get significantly more money than I do now. I prefer the time off, to be frank. This year, I wish I had an option to take more time off than I can, but that's the life of a 12 month school employee. We are still waiting for our new contracts, but at least the negotiation team has finished the process of negotiating. Contracts should be coming soon. Once that arrives, I will be able to budget for the next year.

Oh, my goodness. We have more sessions ahead of us than behind us at this time. My schedule will change in August. We have five days to spread out 20 group sessions rather than the four days we have now. My schedule does not include the same number of sessions per day (like I would like), so I will go from three days of five (or more) groups to two days of five groups and three days of three or four groups. I am looking forward to adding more individuals to my schedule, but many of the students that I have now for individual sessions are moving to the transition program, so I am not sure if they will be continuing with me or not.

In other news, the social worker team decided to perform the Cup Song with adapted lyrics for a team member who is leaving. This was told to the rest of us yesterday with the new lyrics attached to the email. My team started the process of learning the pattern (one intern had not done the Appalachian Cup Game pattern before), figuring out if we can sing and keep the pattern going, and then deciding that the group needed a time to practice. So, I set up a practice session for late this afternoon.

We then started to practice as a group. We determined that this particular performance requires multiple skills and some refinement that we, as a collective group, may not currently be able to coordinate. Singing while completing a set pattern is not easy for many. Singing new lyrics while completing a set pattern is challenging on an entirely different level. It will be interesting to see what we can accomplish as a group with only two days to practice and pull it all together. This led us into a discussion about what we were actually trying to do. There is so much that happens in this particular series of tasks that it seems to be daunting when you start. We will see if our team is able to do this - we have modifications if not.

Kudos to Anna Kendrick, by the way. The entire cup song in the movie is shot with two edits - one towards the last third of the song and then one at the very end. There is no real way of ever knowing how long it took her to complete that pattern in the movie, but she managed to get through most of it in at least one take. Of course, it is very possible that the singing itself was dubbed, but she at least kept her mouth moving with the pattern. I'm not to that point right now - I can sing the original lyrics and keep the pattern going pretty consistently, but adding new lyrics to the pattern is a bit more difficult for me at this point. 

Still, I will prevail!

Now it is a challenge!!

For me, this has been a pretty validating time lately. We are going with my model for offering specials to our transition program. My birthday celebration strategy was accepted by the clinical (the aforementioned social worker team) team rather than the way we have tried to do it over and over and failed for many years. I got a message from a person who I am friends with on social media for the sole reason that she and I went to the same internship. She made a nice comment on one of my posts about my internship director. I am currently receiving compliments from all sorts of sources, and that is helping me through the last several weeks of the summer and my associated SAD. I hope that I am helping others with their own validation.

Just got a message from the universe that I need to get a hurdy gurdy. We were talking about that instrument last week in our overview of French music and instruments. I started doing some research about the instrument (fascinating, by the way) and found some kits where you could put together your own, working instrument. I passed because I am currently budget-challenged. Just a few moments ago, my cousin posted a completed hurdy gurdy on her post (by the way, if you are anywhere near Newnan, Georgia check out Famous Nameless Antiques - tell Lisa that her cousin, Mary Jane, sent you. No discount, but a link, so you might get to see some of the hidden secrets...). I am choosing to take this as a sign that I need to save my pennies for one of those kits. I would like a hurdy gurdy... and it seems that the universe wants me to have one as well.

So, hurdy gurdy in my future, lots of validation of my ideas, and quite a bit of opportunity to talk to other people about music and music therapy this week. Add only two days of sessions and one day of work and intern checkouts and prepping for next school year before 12 days of break. I can do it!!

Happy Wednesday!